Mesmerized
by velvetsins
Summary: To save Byakuya's soul from the darkest destiny, Rukia will do anything. But at what cost? What will she do when their relationship turns into something where no one knows who is the Master and who is the Slave and she finds her own life in danger? Freedom is not an option. But, if there was any choice, would someone decide to leave? AU [ByaRuki]
1. Prologue - Bittersweet Addiction

**Hi, again!**

**I'm here to present you the very first chapter of my newest ByaRuki fanfiction "Mesmerized". It's AU setting, in Japan, nowadays.**

**It's about vampires and though I know many people don't like them, give me a chance. I promise I'll do my best to make it a good reading.**

**Well… I'm not sure of what to say, but I've been with this story in my mind for a while and today, Friday 13****th,**** I decided to update it. **

**This fanfic is a gift to my one of my dearest friends, Pandora. Thank you for your support and friendship. Hope you like it. :)**

**Marek and Mandy, this first chapter is also for you. And I think you know the reasons.**

**Mandy, thank you again for become my beta. You have no idea how your support is important to me.**

**Also thanks to Rahma, who helped me with Summary and gave me tons of ideas for the plot :)**

******Keep in mind English is ****not**** my first language, but rest assured I'll do my best to make it understandable.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but I own this plot. The cover image is edited by me. The artist is the amazing Punkykoolkat. **

**Warnings: Will contain at times; violence, sexual, drugs and religions references, coarse language, and possibly OCCness. **

_**The italic part represents a flashback.**_

**Good reading!**

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**PROLOGUE - BITTERSWEET ADDICTION**

* * *

"_**Touching you makes me feel alive; touching you makes me die inside."**_

_**Slept so long – Jay Gordon of Orgy**_

That was a sin.

Dangerous.

And wrong in so many ways.

That bedroom was a place of a disturbed relationship and uncountable scenes of a dirty, scandalous pleasure.

He did not seem to care about that, not when he had returned to a dose of it each single day of his life.

But who could blame him? Who could judge him when it is so sweet?

Eyes staring at eyes. Lips caressing lips. Two bodies entwined, moving in one single rhythm. In a magical, sensual dance. Sinful.

He would incite her until she cried out his name, wrapped in a haze of pleasure… _So sublime and indescribable._ She would tease and torture him in sorted ways until he could handle it no longer. Until his mask of indifference fell down. Then, when it was too much for both of them, he would drink the sweet sounds of her luscious lips while together the sinners would try to reach the heavens.

But even if it was sweet and he needed it more than her, it was over.

That scandalous and shameful relationship. Everything was really over. He could, after trying hard many times, keep her away. Make her escape from him.

For his own sake, for her own. For his sanity and for her safety.

So why in the whole fucking hell it was so difficult?

Such thoughts… He should not care about that.

Resigned, he switched off the lights. The generally welcomed darkness greeted him leaving a bittersweet feeling on his chest.

_Guilt…_

How long since he did feel it fall upon him so hard? Never… Truth be told, the head of the Kuchiki family had never experienced so many feelings in such level of intensity before.

Silently, he opened the door of Rukia's bedroom, about to head to his own but stopped as he heard a low murmur. All his body froze. Was she awake? To his deep relief she just turned around and continued sleeping. The sheet slipped down showing her bare shoulder.

He covered her again handling the strap of her nighty back to its place. In that moment, Rukia stirred, her shoulder slightly touching his fingertips.

Byakuya shuddered in pleasure and shut his eyes at the sight of her pale, soft neck.

Then, he walked away and leaned against the wall. Through the window he stared at the full moon. The gorgeous and white bright ball began to fade out on the sky. Sparse gray clouds completed the night scenery in its last minutes. Soon would be day; soon he should depart.

He glanced back at the petite raven-haired girl lying on the bed stuck in a half-natural and half-induced sleep. Her small hands were under the pillow as she moved once again.

She was… _Uneasy._ Suddenly her breath sped up almost sobbing. Her nails reached the sheets at the same time she turned her face from one side to the other. As if… As if she tried to send away something…

Byakuya's hand met hers and their fingers interlaced perfectly. And as if it was magic she stopped struggling albeit her delicate hand held his tightly.

The calm breath of Byakuya — an unnecessary resource but one he insisted on continuing to use — stroked her neck while he murmured in a low, soft tone, "Listen to the pleasant sound of the waterfall, Rukia… So relaxing and refreshing. It is sundown but the sun shines rather well. It is the beginning of spring… You can run through the hills covered with flowers if you want."

A relaxed expression plastered her face. A tiny smile covered her pale lips. Leisurely, the tightness over his fingers loosened, and her breath found a natural rhythm.

Byakuya moved a little off only to remove the stubborn lock of hair that insisted on covering her delicate features. Once again, a new frown disturbed her face but soon vanished.

Then, he stepped backwards, but he could go nowhere as her voice broke out in a whisper, "Are you with me, Nii-sama?"

He was surprised. In all the times, it had never happened. He had heard and proved that during the hypnosis she could respond to his commands but not while he induced her into a dream.

"If you want…" he answered simply.

After a few seconds of the purest silence, Byakuya thought he could leave, however, she mumbled again, "Where are you? I cannot fin…"

"Right behind you."

The muttered voice assumed an energetic and happy tone when she said, "You came to enjoy the sun with me?"

The answer stopped on Byakuya's throat. He did not know what he could possibly say. _'Watching the sundown?'_ Apparently, it was one of the few things he could not to do. Never again.

Not with her or anybody.

Hearing her impatient mumbles, he answered soon, his voice whispering out, "Yes."

A tiny but radiant trail of a smile returned to grace her lips.

Byakuya spent the next couple of minutes watching her sleep, noticing how occasionally she would smile more while burying her fingers on the pillow.

That dream… That smile… None of it was natural. All of it was induced. A pretty and comfortable reality created by him to her. A kind of hypnosis that only a vampire could create.

_Mesmerized…_ A beautiful porcelain doll with no chance to make her own choices. That was what Rukia had become. That was what he had made of her. A puppet whose destiny lay down on her master's hand, Kuchiki Byakuya.

_Controller…_ A vile and selfish creature that has under his power everything about her. That was what he had become. That was what Rukia had made of him. A master whose pleasure laid on having her under his influence.

But that joke had gone too far. Crossed the line. Rukia was not his slave! For all the demons! She was a person, his sister! And the way he had taken over the reins of her life was unacceptable.

Master and Slave. This would end today. He and she… This would never happen again.

He only went back there because he had made a decision. He would stay away from her, from his duties at the Corporation and Kuchiki Clan. For how long he did not know. He would join the others like him. He would learn how to control himself and his powers, because he did not want to hurt her. To subdue her like this. Never again.

To keep her safe he would do anything. They had gone through many dangerous events last days. He had been so close to lose her, more than once. And the feeling of almost losing her was too unbearable. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her.

So, all of this was for her sake and his own sanity. That madness could not go on.

Byakuya squeezed his eyes shut thinking of the sin he had just committed.

_He just wanted to be sure she would be fine and safe during his time away. But then he lost his control. Again._

_Her marvelous scent, her perfect ivory skin. The way how her violet eyes shone in such incomparable color. As if they were two amethysts shining in its entire splendor. A deep and treacherous pool that pulled him to her. Making him drown in such liveliness._

_Then, an uncontrollable urge overwhelmed him. Before long, his lips met hers. The last kiss… _The last time.

_However, the way how she corresponded, surrendering as if there was no tomorrow, made him lost his control. His intention fell under the warmth of her swollen lips. The delicious contrast of their bodies temperatures. So different yet the perfect complement to one another… He, the winter and she, the summer. Or the softness of spring how he preferred to define her. Delicate but still hot._

_Rukia reached the buttons of his shirt, and undone them one by one slowly as if she wanted to torture him. _

_Why does she surrender that way? Does she have any idea how wrong it was?_

_His eyes fell upon hers for a moment, and she seemed to fumble up. A tenuous, adorable blush covered her cheeks as she looked away. His hands quickly covered hers, helping on her task. Gradually, his chest was exposed and her nails shaved into his skin unintentionally, sending a shiver of pleasure up his spine._

_Smoothly biting her bottom lip, she looked up to him. Behind all the shyness, lust was visible in her beautiful orbs. _

_And he found himself closing his owns, enjoying the sensation of her skin against his. Her small and pert breasts pressed against his nude chest. The thin nighty was not an obstacle, for he could feel every single pore of her body dilating, as well as her little heart pounding wildly. _

_Byakuya could also hear the noise of the blood flowing through her veins in a quick pace. No… he could not call such perfection as a simple noise. It was far from it. For him, it was the sweetest symphony. The sound he liked to hear the most ― apart of her moans._

_Finding the pulse point at her neck, he concentrated himself for a moment there. Taking his time on her accelerated heartbeat and petite, delicious body. Rukia sighed as his lips caressed her gently there. The straps of her black nighty were entangled in his fingers as he slowly undressed her. _

_The sighs became low whimpers, and her breath, now utterly uncontrolled, was coming out as sobs. The way her heart raced was driving him insane. His canines scraped her skin and he welcomed, pleased, a faint moan when he bit her._

_She was… _So sweet.

Sinfully sweet.

_Holding her back with his hand, he controlled himself the most he could to drink just enough. However, it seemed too hard… _

_His eyes were taken by red, almost as scarlet as the liquid that ran down her neck and stained her pallid skin._

_Unlike the previous times, she did not move away, or even protested. The moans coming out from her mouth were purely of pleasure. She just moved to give him more access to her neck; to come closer and rub her hips against his._

_Byakuya groaned against Rukia's skin, pulling away as he felt her womanhood against his hardness, but she moved a little bit closer, dragging her body against his leisurely as if she wanted to punish him._

_In an attempt to distract himself, he slid his fingers down her throat, cleaning up the small trickle of blood that he left there. Nonetheless, before he could do any other movement, he felt her pulling his hand and sucking up his index finger in a lush motion. A successful effort to drive him crazy._

_Soon, his lips met hers once again tasting the hint of blood on her tongue. In a quick motion, he lifted her by the thighs and laid her on the bed. His body, now warm due to the shared blood, pressed onto hers. He saw her getting up on her elbows to watch him undressing himself, but his movements were faster than her simple human eyes could follow._

_Then, she collapsed on the mattress and a moan of surprise and pain broke out from her lips as he filled her. It was not soft or slow, but intense and fast. Rukia squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the feeling to dissipate while he was invading her mouth in a lustful kiss. Teasing her pink muscle._

_He drew a little off, removing that lock of hair from her face, still controlling his urge to pound into her senseless. At his tender caress, Rukia reopened her big, bright eyes and gasped as he bent forward, kissing her neck._

_Byakuya's hands travelled on her perfect, soft body, until reaching her thighs to make her straddle her legs around his waist to fit him better; her nails buried into the silk sheets as she tried to suppress a loud whimper when he started rocking his hips. At first slowly, then faster, until finding a delicious pace for both of them. Her body joined him in every thrust, following the right cadence to turn him even more._

_By her low soft whimpers, he knew she was enjoying it as much as he was and it only worsened the guilt he felt. For he knew it was happening because of his natural capacity of seducing humans. To make them succumb to his own selfish wishes. It was not what she truly wanted. No one could ever want it. He was far too disgust at himself at the way he had been treating her. Controlling her life. But he could not simply bear the idea of her saying no to him. Hating him, as he knew he deserved. The idea of losing what had never been his was too __unbearable..._

_He kissed her once again, lingering in the warmth of her fresh and plump lips. __So__tasteful...__ She moaned softly inside his mouth and Byakuya found himself closing his eyes and giving in. Forgetting any coherent thought or guilt. He could deal with it after. Now, he just wanted to please her. Show her a pleasure he had never shown any woman. _

_He wanted her to feel as never before. Feel loved and desired as any other woman could ever be. _

_Slowing down the movements, Byakuya moved his lips to her breasts, giving them the attention he had not until now. His tongue circled her left pearl, occasionally making his fangs scratch on her sensitive skin, sending a whirlwind of sensations through her body. With his thumb and forefinger he stroked the right one slightly until earning a loud whimper from her swollen lips._

_The rhythm they were reaching was too slow that she could feel every inch of him coming in and out of her in firm and deep thrusts. _

_Byakuya was surprised when she flipped him onto his back and straddled him. Hands on her hips, he helped her to move up and down. Savoring the feeling of their skins sliding against one another in a synchronized, primitive dance. Their hearts beating in the same rhythm. A melody of unspoken feelings, fear and desires... Giving in on the sea of sensations that so intimate touches could bring. _

_He straightened up and bent to kiss her neck, his tongue leisurely tracing her earlobe while he felt her nailing his shoulders and pulling at his jet back hair. _

_Rukia bit her lip when he ran down his warm fingers from her neck to her belly, circling her navel until he found her sweet spot and pressed there just to hear, with a sickly thirst, the loud moans she struggled to hold._

_Byakuya let out a deep groan when she nailed his shoulder-blades, this time making him bleed. Pain and pleasure mixed up as his wounds healed beneath her slender fingers. Quickening the pace a little bit, he watched how she threw her head back and closed her beautiful eyes. A low growl was smothered as he felt her tightening around him. Her climax almost dragging him to his own._

No… Not yet…

_He did not want it finish so soon. Byakuya wished he could spend the entire night with her, enjoying her body pressed against his, her erratic breath and her irresistible lips until the break dawn. _

_Hugging her closer, Byakuya sipped all her moans, nibbling her lips gently. Her breath inside his mouth was ragged and it took a few seconds until she stopped shaking in his arms. Byakuya seized the opportunity to kiss her deeply and move her hips once again, creating a steady pace._

_He wanted her to feel more. Much more. He himself needed more. It was not sufficient._

_Nevertheless, both of them could not hold it much longer. Not the time they wanted to make it last._

_His senses were not tired of her. His nose hungered for more of her natural__scent. His eyes wanted to admire her face in the bliss of ecstasy. His tact craved for the texture of her silky skin__sliding against his. His ears more of listening the softer symphony that only her moans could provide and, finally, his palate was not tired of the taste of her lips, her sweaty and slightly salty skin and her delightful and precious blood__._

_She was so warm and tiny… Yet, so perfect to him. As if the Gods had molded her especially to him. The form how her petite body always received him, as her blood was the only one that could sustain him. A special gift… __For__him.__ All of him._

_Byakuya tried to formulate a decent phrase, but nothing came into his mind. The movements were erratic and frenetic. Without a pace. Intense. Fast. Deep._

_And as if she knew what he was thinking, Rukia crashed their lips in a fiery and impetuous kiss. No words were necessary because she seemed to know what was on his mind and heart. He put all his unspoken feelings into that simple and most human action, a kiss._

_Their eyes were locked on one another. Violet and gray. He thought they never looked so vulnerable and lively. Byakuya felt her smiling against his lips, closing her eyes and whispering into his mouth something he was not able to understand given his overexcited condition, while reaching out her fingers to his long silky hair and pulling it down. The orgasm slowly built during all this time threatened to explode, dragging her senses in a wave of pleasure._

_The contractions backed to climb up, now almost furiously as well Byakuya's thirst. _

The last time…

_His eyes were red, his throat dry and his ears filled with the almost torturing sound of her moans while she climaxed for the second time. It should be now. _

The sweetest blood… The perfect gift…

_The orgasm also building within him was making him throb inside her wishing release. His fangs came out of his mouth and brushed her pearly skin. _

Byakuya… Byakuya…

_She moaned, caught in the spiral, stream sensations of climax. Her body pulled by millions of waves that reached her, and made her tremble in his arms in unbelievable pleasure._

Rukia…

_His hands cupped her hair and his lips reached her neck._

Be mine… For the last time…

_Both shivered when his canines pierced her jugular vein. Pleasure for him; pain for her. Nevertheless, it was a temporary feeling. Soon, her body flickered again reaching a strong peak, whereas he also released himself inside her. _

The nectar of the gods…

_His eyes were taken once again by scarlet, and he tried his best to not drink all she had to offer. Byakuya was getting better at doing it, although his animal side always wanted to tear her up, he controlled it because she was too precious._

Divine…

_He should stop. He needed to. However, he did not want to. The grip over his hair reduced, and sleepiness began to overwhelm her. It was necessary all his forces to broke apart. All the remaining of self-control._

_His eyes softened a little when he laid her down on the soft mattress. With his thumb, he traced her face and removed the lock of hair from her face. She sighed peacefully now too weak to stay awake._

_He admired Rukia's beauty for a second, wanting to picture this last moment in his memory forever. She was beautiful… As one of the fairest Renaissance paintings. Sculpted in the glorious splendor of a smooth and genuinely pallid skin. _

_Nevertheless, this time she looked even paler than usual. Her lips, devoid of the enchanting pinkness he loved so much, caught his attention as well as her unusual coldness._

_It was not normal._

_Byakuya bent over her and made a small cut on his wrist. The crimson drops finding its way to her lips, feeding her._

_Gradually, yet slower than he had expected, his vampire blood gave back a slight blush to her cheeks. Yet she did not respond, and her __heartbeats__ were still poorly audible._

_He pressed his arm against her lips watching satisfied her choking and then gripping his wrist to drink every single drop what poured from the wound surface. _

'_That's enough...' he thought to himself, getting rid of her grip and receiving a loud whimper in protest. _

_The last thing he needed was getting her even more addicted to his blood than she already was. It was enough for him to be the dependent one on that relationship. He would never condemn her to it too._

_The cut healed quickly and the skin returned to its natural state. Byakuya stroked her cheekbones, checking that her body temperature was stabilizing as she opened her large and deep eyes now in a blackened color that reminded him of the midnight sky._

_Byakuya approached her ear and murmured, "You should sleep, Rukia..."_

_His tone was so low that he almost thought she could not hear him, but he knew that all her senses were more than heightened._

"_You are sleepy, aren't you?"_

_She groaned in response, but gave a short nod, closing her eyes. _

_Byakuya whispered once again, proceeding with, practically, the same words to hypnotize her, "We have not been together". He made a slight pause between every word trying to make them as clear as possible. "You and me… It did not happen."_

"_What didn't happen?" She asked in a whisper. _

"_Nothing," he replied, truly satisfied at seeing the hypnosis working out. "We have not met since this morning. Now, close your eyes and sleep. You are very tired."_

_At this command, she closed her eyes and soon her body and face had taken a relaxed posture stating that she had fallen asleep._

_He almost lost her. Again._

_It was not the first time it had happened, and he suspected that will not be the last one if they continued that relationship. _

_His lips touched her neck, and she shivered in pleasure. A soft kiss to save on his tortuous memories. And a lick to heal the harm on her skin. His breath stroked her and he closed his eyes controlling an urge to feed her with his blood until she was feeling good enough so they could do it all again, again and again. _

As the memories faded away, Byakuya stared at her sleeping body. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically and her expression was now relaxed. He flinched inwardly at the mere thought of something bad happening to her.

He knew he could never control himself around her. He could never get enough of her. However, it does not mean he could kill her.

She was… _too __important._

Touching her, having her in his arms were the ways he found to get closer to his humanity since the accident. Since he was turned into a demon.

But touching her, loving her, charged its price. Each time he obliged himself to erase all her memories was gradually killing him inside.

Slowly and fatal.

Rukia was his redemption and, at the same time, his curse.

Byakuya glanced back at the first rays of sun on the horizon. The time passed so fast when they were together.

_For her sake… For his own sanity…_

He said mentally as a kind of mantra. He wanted to be sure of his decision. Sure to not turning back, to not make the same peccancy he sinned that night.

"Good night, Rukia…" he whispered, leaving her bedroom and walking into the corridors of the mansion that woke silently.

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The young lady dressed in a long velvet navy-blue gown stared at the full moon shining above her head in respectful awe as well as a sharp melancholy.

The sky never looked as gorgeous as this night. So starry that reminded her of the Van Gogh's best-known painting _'The Starry Night.'_ In all those years living as an immortal creature she thought she had never seen the sky so beautiful. Perhaps it was due to the recent meal that had heightened her senses.

Touching her cheekbones, she found it slightly warm. She was sure they were covered with an adorable blush too. Something she could only have after drinking blood. Different from that curvaceous woman from whom she had just feed from.

She looked down at the figure stirred on her ottoman. Her long turquoise hair was spread out through the soft seat. The same color of her own eyes. So pretty and vivacious… She thought to herself watching the human in her last moments. The blood trickled from her neck and mouth staining the fair velvet fabric.

And though she would never admit it, she felt the envy creeping through her veins. All of this because of _that_ young girl. Simply because she could have his love...

The girl's body trembled a little as the life was abandoning her. Her brown-eyes grew wider and wider… And then… stopped, completely opened. As if they were glasses. Somehow, they looked like dolls eyes.

That was a precious lesson she learnt during her lifetime as a vampire. No matter how good or bad the life of a human could be, it would always have an end. Which means, suffering, love, fear, desire, hunger... all of it would have and end someday, different from her that all of this would last for the eternity.

She shifted her gaze from the dead body and stared at the sky again. She was so lost in thoughts she did not hear someone entering her chambers and closing the door soundless.

"Tsk! How bad of you!"

Startled, she turned on her heels to face the owner of such words.

"My lord..." She bowed in respect.

"You should be careful with your prey." He eyed the dead girl on her ottoman and smiled.

"Hai."

Approaching her silently, he observed her intently out the corner of his eyes. After a few seconds in absolute silence, he spoke up, "What news do you have for me?"

"I have none, my lord. I'm sorry."

He turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, caressing her creamy skin slightly. His smile widened as he felt her trembling beneath his touch. His closed eyes opened just a little to show two very red irises, shining in terrible amusement.

"Why are you shivering, Hime-sama?" He bent to whisper on her ear. "Are you… afraid… of… me?"

Her turquoise eyes popped open in fear as he slid his fingers down her throat and stopped on her chest. His index and thumb fingers caressed the velvet fabric where her heart was. Soon, he curled them into claws. As if he would rip her heart.

"Just kidding!" He said and laughed as he headed towards the door. "By the way… Let me know how you're doing."

She saw him waving his hand slightly and then grabbing the doorknob to leave her alone. His silver-white hair glowing in the dim light of the moon. When he spoke up again, there was no trace of amusement on this voice. On contrary, it had fallen a few decibels and sounded low, almost poisonous.

"I want him here in the next few days."

"Hai, my lord." She bowed dutifully watching him underneath her eyelashes.

"Oryouwill be punished**."**

Her eyes grew bigger as saucers as she heard his remarks. Everybody had heard abouthow severe he was despite being smiling all the time and be apparently kind type**.**

"If I may suggest you should use the sire bond. I'm sure you don't want to lose for a silly human girl, right?"

"Hai, my lord." She was still bowed watching his leave. A sigh of relief let out her lips as he shut the door behind him.

"Hime-sama!" He called again, making her jolt a little. "Clean up this mess... and get rid of this pathetic body."

"Hai, my Lord."

Sighing, the young woman shifted her gaze towards the dead body while a girl with raven locks flashed back on her mind. Lose to a human girl... _Pathetic..._ She never had a chance to win... That's why she envied the humans so much. Even in her deplorable weakness and beautiful fragility she was loved. That is why she was going to make him turn off.

Because she would never, _ever,_ lose to that _pathetic_ human.

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**A/N – So, here you have the prologue of Mesmerized xD**

**It's completely different from my other story 'Don't Close Your Heart' and I'm also trying to write bit different here. The language, the pace, everything is different. But I hope you still like it. **

**As you may have noticed, it's not the beginning of this story. Actually, so many things happened already before we reached this point. But as the story develops you'll understand how and why we got here.**

**Recently, I read Anne Rice's **_**'Vittorio, the vampire'**_** and the desire of writing something about them aroused in me again. Mainly with the legend about **_**'the loved one'. **_**Most of stories is not about that, and I wanted to focus on this, since it's suits Byakuya and Rukia quite well. If you don't know what is this, I won't tell you now, I think it may spoil a very important aspect about this story.**

**They're adopted siblings here again. But there's no Hisana, what is a relief to not write about her. But you see, again we have the same thing as **_**'siblings relationship'**_** and all the drama that comes with it. I assure you: it's entirely necessary for the plot and the thing with **_**'the loved one legend'.**_

**There are several series and books about the theme that inspired me. **_**'The Vampire Diaries'**_** series and books, **_**'True Blood'**_** series and books, **_**'The Vampires Chronicles'**_** by Anne Rice (the master of vampires) and of course **_**'Bram Stoker'**_** and his amazing book. There'll also be some references to 19****th**** century books and poems. Well… all of this helped me to build up this story. I cannot forget Gordon Melton and his awesome **_**'The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead'.**_

**And though it's an AU, it's also related to Bleach story-line. It's not noticeable in this prologue, but you'll see soon. I can say very close to the Soul Society Arc and Hueco Mundo Arc.**

**And since most of my readers complains a lot about the lack of romance in my Bleachverse fanfiction **_**'Don't Close Your Heart'**_** here you have one focused on them. So there'll me more romance in this work, action, and smex scenes. **

**It's also a lemony fic. Since I can't see a story about vampires without eroticism, blood and death, there'll be a lot of these scenes here. But don't worry; it's not **_**porn without plot.**_** And I'll do my best to work with the legends and build up an interesting story for you all.**

**I think that's all. I already spoke a lot. lol**

**But I hope you enjoy reading this and, if you want, leave me a review. Criticism, suggestions and anything that can help me to improve my skills are welcomed. I'll be more than glad to read your thoughts. **

**Take Care,**

**Velvetsins**


	2. I - Thirst

**Hi, guys!**

**Since this week I won't update my other fanfic, I'm here to present you chapter 1 of Mesmerized. **

**Thank you so much to those who reviewed my prologue **(Noctis Vee Caelum ; Kurosaki Uryuu; PAMILA DE CASTRO; vampirelover; Nyanmaru94; champblaze; ReckoningDay; Kuchiki Jenny; RagelvlitsOver9000)**. And also those who favorited and followed this fanfic. It means a lot to me.**

**Just to explain, I'll do with this fanfic the same I do with my Bleachverse one. I reply your reviews via PM and the ones I can't do it, I reply in my second AN.**

**Special thanks as always to Mandy, my beloved beta. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but I own this plot. The cover image is edited by me. The artist is the amazing Punkykoolkat.**

**Warnings: Will contain at times; violence, sexual, drugs and religions references, coarse language, and possibly OCCness.**

* * *

**I. THIRST**

* * *

Darkness... Gloom and complete absence of light… That was all there was to him. All what seemed to exist.

Byakuya turned around trying to find a better position on the wet floor where he laid. Standing upright was out of question. He did not want it either. Not after those arduous and unsuccessful attempts.

The strong and acidic smell of rotting corpses invaded his nostrils, to the point they were burning in pain. There was blood everywhere. Below, around and over his body.

When a sudden pain washed over him, Byakuya found himself arching his body, feeling his internal organs writhe as if they were entwined. Soon, blood gushed from his mouth as he vainly tried to dispel the confused memories from his mind.

Chaos. Pure and Complete. He did not know when that pandemonium started for he had faint in the strong car crash. As soon as his eyes fluttered open, the sight of people running from one place to another at an unbelievable speed filled the back of his eyes.

Screams echoed in the moonless night and a male voice that he thought belonged to his father demanding to his stepmother, Natsumi, stay still and do not dare to move, awoke him completely.

Byakuya tried to move quickly, but noticed he was stuck in the backseat with an iron bar passing over his left thigh. Gritting his teeth, he managed to push it away in one, quick motion, feeling the blood pouring from the wound. He made no sound; he did not contort his face in pain. He just stared at the hole in his flesh, which was not big but incredible deep.

He breathed twice and by grabbing the gun underneath the seat, he ran towards Natsumi. She cried out in excruciating pain. A tall and slim man, all dressed in black, held her by the long ebony hair and sucked on her neck. However she did not seem to care about it. Rather: she was pointing out frantically to her husband, Sojun, whose body lay on the ground without the heart, while crying out for him to run away.

But his only reaction was to point out the gun at her nemesis and shot as many times as possible. Soon, the cartridge hit the ground, empty. Nonetheless, her attackerwas still unmoved, glued on the floor as if he had not suffered a singlescratch.

The only signal Byakuya had that he had hit him was the fact the bullets had pierced his chest and with each new shot he stepped backwards.

Quickly, but more slowly than what he had expected the man threw Natsumi away, causing her to crash against the ground loudly. Her neck was still bleeding while she tried to approach her husband with teary eyes. Her pitiful face made something inside him stir. The scene was terrible. Her stepmother crying over his father dead-body.

"Byakuya..." She forced out her voice, reaching out her fingers to him. The small rhodium reliquary wrapped on her slender fingers. A family heirloom, giving from woman to woman in the Kuchiki Family.

Although he knew exactly what she wanted he could not step frontwards to close the gap between them, for the man briefly ended her life under his dirty social shoes. Her neck broke in a sonorous _crack_ at a mere footstep. A muffled cry died on her throat.

A scene Byakuya was sure he would never be able to forget. A scene that would keep in the back of his mind forever.

Rage washed over him. He looked at the bodies of his parents spread on the ground. His father and his stepmother. The blood on their faces and chests. A grimace of pain was their last expression, as last remembrance of that horrible violent show. He then looked back at the man who smiled at him. His bloody teeth all visible as his lips twitched further. That man... What he had just done to his family was... _unacceptable. _

He was approaching, his eyes taken by a deep crimson color, his steps moderated, with a smirk outlining his bloody lips.

Byakuya touched the gun, but it would be useless, he knew it. There were also no bullets in the cartridge. So he grabbed a penknife from his front pocket; ready to stake him if he approached more, but before he could even see it, the man had disappeared and was in front of him now. Two inches apart, he grabbed Byakuya by the neck. His strong fingers, index and thumb, tightening around his trachea to prevent him from breathing. With an extraordinary force to which he could not oppose.

Then his mouth met his neck and a harsh pain washed over him as he felt those huge fangs piercing his flesh. Tearing apart as if it was the finest paper. _Puissant and painful._ But it did not last too long, for a dormant sensation took control of his body. Byakuya felt heavy. His head circling around. His fingers loosed the grip around the knife and the weapon started trilling its way to the ground, but in a last breathe of consciousness he directed it to the chest of his opponent. Piercing his heart with all the remnant strength before being thrown to the floor and lose his conscience.

The steely taste of blood was still on his mouth, dense and sticky. He remembered of having his head placed in a lap and a wrist pressed against his lips. From what he sucked vigorously, as if it was the most succulent drink in this world. As if his life depended on it.

Then he felt a soft brush against his lips. With that strong and sweet perfume he did not need too much to realize it was a woman. Poorly, he listened her murmurs against his lips _'Come back to me, Byakuya'._

And then she was gone. The last thing he remembered before closing his eyes were a pair of intense and lively violet eyes and muttering the owner of such a beautiful orbs' name.

_"Rukia."_

* * *

A beautiful pair of turquoise eyes stared at a slender feminine frame in the mirror. This time, she was wrapped in a silky scarlet dress. The length of the fabric was not long and not short either. Just perfect to hide and show whatever she wanted.

The lights were switched off and if not because of her sharp vision she would not be able to see her own body. Sighing ― she noticed she had been doing it exhaustively since the previous night ―, she tilted her neck slightly as she heard two very soft knocks on the door.

"Hime-sama, are you there?" The voice that followed the knocks was also soft and she quickly recognized its owner. Kotestu Isane, her maid. "Aizen-sama requires your presence immediately in the meeting room."

"Yes, Isane."

Twenty-four years old and a century of misery were two words to describe the girl in front of her perfectly. What never stopped to amaze the vampire was her ability to smile so sweetly even when her insides were shattered into pieces as she knew they were since her young sister had been separated from her.

The vampire took her time to look at her maid attentively. She was tall and had short messy silver hair with two strands styled in braids. Her movements were a bit clumsy but still delicate. Not so different from any other young human of her age. Wearing a black maid-dress, she looked like a potato bag.

She could have giggled if the situation was not so serious. Approaching, she straightened the lapels of her maid dress and smiled bitterly as she caught a glimpse of concern on her gray eyes. The one the vampire had already smelled on her skin and heard on her heartbeats.

She was a princess and as someone of her position, she was rarely summoned to watch those stressful meetings. However today she would be there. She had to. The mere thought send a chill up her spine.

"I'm ready." She said, but Isane knew she was lying. She knew her master better than anyone.

And both of them knew perfectly well that the Council would not summon the Princess if the subject was not serious. Both women already knew what they would talk of. The last night happenings. The cruel and showy murder of the Kuchiki family. Her father would punish her for sure.

More than a Princess, she was the current _Commander-in-Chief_ of the _Onmitsukidō_, a kind of organization inside Las Noches responsible for protecting the leader and spying other clans, besides killing secretly those who, in some way, represented any risk for the Clan and had an important duty to carry. Failures were certainly not included.

And even though she controlled just the first branch of the _Onmitsukidō_, in the position of the _Executive Militia_, in the previous night she had to go patrolling with the _Patrol Corps, _the second branch, leaded by Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. There were three of them with her and they were investigating a Doctor who was leaving the Karakura Hospital late at night. They have been doing it for the past two days with their leader, but for some unknown reason that specific night, Grimmjow had simply disappeared without further news.

Unohana Retsu was their target. The main psychiatrist, responsible for the dangerous elements of _Detention Unit_ built in the Hospital. Everything was occurring perfectly, as expect from vampires of their positions and when she signalized for them to attack the woman silently, she noticed one of them had disappeared. Soon, a very loud noise was heard and they smelled it. Blood. Human blood.

Then, the pandemonium started. She failed to control them.

And there was nothing he hated more than people who could not control what they were supposed to control.

She left the room, her maid half-step behind her, as customary, and headed towards the meeting room. But all of sudden she stopped, causing Isane to almost bump into her. "Hime-sama…"

"Shhh…" She said and squeezed her nose a bit. Blood. Human blood. Turning on her heels, she faced the man she hated the most. She truly hated him. His coarse manners and language. His posture, his hair and his eyes. Everything about him. Mainly the way his voice went out when he called her.

"Hime-sama." He was hunched on the wooden handrail of the stairs. He winked once, his lips bloody colored as he smiled at her.

She paid him no attention as she headed towards the double-faced black doors. He laughed behind her, his eyes narrowing slightly at the movement of her curvaceous hips.

That was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the second in command. The responsible for the Patrol Corps. The man that should be ahead of the last mission, but who simply disappeared. _He fucking disappeared!_ He left his duties for her and also the task of controlling those coarse, impulsive and stupid vampires.

"Grimm-kun?"

She froze. Eyeing over her shoulder, the vampire caught a glimpse of a ginger woman, before whispering out, "A human? Seriously?"

The blue-haired man shrugged, grinning widely. Arrogance all written over his handsome face. Hands in pockets he just said, "She followed me."

The woman narrowed her eyes a bit as she shifted her gaze to the human girl and then back to the arrogant vampire.

"Did you have the previous intention to whether kill or transform her?"

"Who knows?"

The true answer was clear as water. Of course he was breaking the rules to fulfill his huge ego ― and, she couldn't forget, to talk to everyone how amazing he was for doing it and escape alive while she would surely be punished. Grimmjow took pride in being the savage, uncontrollable one.

Approaching the girl, she kneeled in front of her and touched her chin. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she thought she recognized her. Those gray eyes and delicate features… She was sure she had seen that face in somewhere. It did not matter though. Sending those thoughts away, she examined the girl again. No signal of bites.

"Where did you bite her?"

No answer. The smirk on his stupid face grew wider. The girl, who looked very young, in her middle twenties, was oblivious to the whole situation. Her eyes were still, like glass.

"You hypnotized her." It was not a question, but a statement. A slender finger touching the human's delicate chin, she looked into her big, gray eyes before speaking up. "What is your name?"

"My name?" Her voice was sweet and she looked confused.

"Hime-sama?" Isane called. "The Council…"

"Leave us, Isane. I don't want you to see what may happen here."

"But, Hime-sama…"

"Leave us…"

Isane did as she was told. She bowed deeply and left them alone in the lounge. Grimmjow took place right in front of them, occupying the armchair while watching them in the big and comfortable couch.

The vampire felt sorry for the young human in front of her. Poor girl. Being controlled by a vampire, that was a situation she was grateful she could not being into.

"Yes."

"Inoue Orihime." She said smiling and then her eyes grew big as saucers as she trembled in fear. "Are you going to hurt me too?"

"Did he hurt you?" Her pupils dilated a bit, almost covering her turquoise irises. The hypnosis had started. "Where?"

Grimmjow chuckled, throwing his head backwards. His body trembled due to the spasm of the smothered laughter. Of course she was not expecting her hypnosis would break his, was she?

"Where?" She asked, a little bit louder now.

Orihime tilted her head slightly, her eyes at first unfocused, but then she blinked twice and repeated, "Where?"

"Yes."

"Here." She pointed to her left breast. "He told me it wouldn't hurt, but it hurt. A lot."

Grimmjow stopped laughing and rage washed over his body. He straightened up in his sitting position and looked at the vampire. That fucking bitch! How dare she?

"Are you going to hurt me too?" The orange-haired girl asked once again, her lips trembling slightly. Both of them could hear her heartbeats increasing as well her fear.

"No. No one here will hurt you." She looked at Grimmjow out of the corner of her eyes. "Never again."

"You fucking bitch!" He cursed under his breath and rose up from the armchair heading to them.

Inoue shivered in fear and as she moved in the velvet couch the vampire could see the huge bite on her breast. So, the rumors were true. Grimmjow was really a monster. Tilting her head softly, she was about the place her lips there to heal the harm when the girl, now utterly scared, pushed her aside.

Looking up, she met her eyes and said, "Don't worry. I will not hurt you."

Grimmjow froze in place as he watched Inoue removing her hands from the vampire's shoulders. She bent once again and licked her breast. Her tongue moving up and down over the porcelain, warm skin, tasting the hint of blood he left there.

All the anger left his body as he heard the moan the human struggled to hold. The sight of the vampire, his princess, kneeled between the human's thighs and licking her was sufficient to bring him over the edge. He grew painfully hard inside his pants. It could only be better if he could fuck them both right now. It would surely be amazing.

He watched as the vampire's lips travelled from her big breast to her neck and upwards until they were hovering over hers. His breathe hitched, his eyes clouding in desire. Grimmjow truly wanted her to kiss the human senseless. He could almost feel as if he was kissing both of them.

"Now look at me, Inoue." The girl did as she was told. "Forget what happened and never let him touch you again."

At this, Grimmjow gritted his teeth all the lust had gone with her cold words. He was about to complain when the double-faced golden doors swung open and a man with silver-white locks came from inside, greeting them.

"Hime-sama… Grimmjow-kun…"

He looked in annoyance at the man. He did not like him. He was like a snake ready to bite and kill all of them. He would not be surprised if he knew the man had a special poison on his fangs to paralyze his victims.

"Aizen-sama waits both of you."

She then turned to face him. Her eyes still red as she placed her hands on Inoue's cheeks and stroked them slightly. "You may accompany her outside, Gin."

"Hai, Hime-sama." He smirked and reached out his hand to take the human's one inside his. "Inoue-chan."

"What am I doing here?" She asked, totally oblivious to the whole situation.

"You may accompany him, Inoue. You'll be safe."

She did not wait to the girl's reply and entered the meeting room with Grimmjow two steps behind her. All the faces turned to stare at them. They were talking about the last night happenings. Right beside Grimmjow, she felt her own body freezing at the mention of the massacre.

"I am sorry, father."

"You transformed Kuchiki Byakuya into one of us, didn't you?"

"Yes… but…"

She fell silent. She had no excuses to what she had done. The rules were clear: the members of Las Noches Clan could only transform humans into vampires before the authorization of the leader ― and even if she was his daughter, she could not make such decision without asking him previously.

She heard a low chuckle on her neck. Grimmjow was too close now, his breath caressing her skin as he said, "Who went against the rules, Hime-sama?"

The vampire was about the reply when Aizen, still occupying his seat, stared at her deeply, his voice leaving no space to complain as he demanded.

"Explain yourself, Lisa."

* * *

After a while ― he could not remember how much time ―, Byakuya reopened his eyes and felt subtle lonely. Confusing and imprecise images blurring his mind and senses.

And there were also those corpses... Not of his parents. They were nowhere in sight, but of other people. That blood aroused on him a thirst and will he never felt before. However, the mere idea of touching that dry and coagulated blood drove him sick. He needed something, fresh... Warm. _Something direct from the vein._

Hence, he spent the last day ― though he had no idea of it ― feeding himself from little animals. Rats, squirrels and also a rabbit.

What a shame! What would Rukia say if she knew he felt an almost sick pleasure by taking her favorite animal's life away? That he felt so complete as he drank the blood and spirit of life of that little flurry animal?

It was a momentary pleasure, though. Then, he would spend the next hours throwing up everything he had drank and poring himself in indescribable pain.

Was it night or day? He did not know. How many days he was there? He also had no idea. He spent most of his day agonizing in pain or stuck in the terrible world of the unconscious, which forces engulfed him to an endless torment.

It was only when he woke up from another of those sleeps that Byakuya noticed he was in another place. And one that could move.

He opened his eyes just to find himself in a dirty and stinking container of a van. Where were they taking him? Who was doing this?

So many questions and no responses. Still feeling dizzy, Byakuya sat against the wall and kept his eyes closed. He stayed this way, static, for a while, only moving as he felt someone putting something on his mouth. He spat out.

Water? Was it water? It had a terrible flavor. Tasted like trash.

And then warm fingers touched his fair, cold skin, moving his gummy hair away to get a better view of his face.

"Hey! Look at him! He's Kuchiki Byakuya. The missed rich man!"

Byakuya did an effort and obliged himself to face the one who recognized him. A boy, no more than 15 years, stared at him with undisguised curiosity.

"What should we do with him, Hana?" Cried the driver man.

"I don't know, Ganjuu. Hospital?"

"Home..." Byakuya muttered difficultly.

"Anooo... Where do you live?"

"What did he say, Hana?" The man cried again. This time Byakuya knew his identity. He was Ganjuu.

"Home. But where does he live?"

"I don't know. Perhaps in those manors, where all those rich and important people live."

"Kinogaya. Residential Sukari." Came his whispered reply.

"What?"

"Residential Sukari, it is in Kinogaya," repeated Hanatarou.

"Okay. Let's go there, then."

The silence wrapped them and the boy once again touched Byakuya's face, checking his temperature. Usually, in such condition, he should be with high temperature. However, he was cold. Colder than any person should be. It was like life was abandoning him.

The difference between their bodies' temperatures almost gave a thermal shock on Hanatarou. Now, he was definitely worried.

"Hurry up, Ganjuu. I don't know if he will hold it any longer."

He could hear the blood pulsing on Hanataro's veins, low and quickly. The boy moved away again, but soon approached and tried to make him swallow water. Byakuya chocked and pushed him away forcefully. A strength he did know not he possessed. His sudden movement caused the boy to fall on his knees and cut his finger on the lid of the glassed bottle. A drop of blood falling directly on Byakuya's lips.

In his despair to stanch the wound, Hanatarou did not notice that more drops flowed from the cut, feeding the man in front of him.

The thirst in Byakuya awakened and he found himself grabbing the thin and fragile wrist of the boy and biting it forcefully. His teeth tearing the soft skin just to feel more of that precious liquid to wet his throat.

A thirst he never felt before.

Hanatarou screamed and tried to push him away, but a force he did not know he had aroused, made him held the boy against his lips, sucking the blood from the wound.

"Hana! Something's going on there?"

Hanatarou tried to reply and pull his wrist back only to be suffocated by a big male hand tightening around his neck. The boy gasped and scratched him trying to pull air to his lungs, but to no avail. He felt increasingly weak and the unconsciousness began to overwhelm him.

Byakuya growled, closing his eyes before the delicious sensation of finally being feed with something that could really satisfy his hunger. That blood… It could not be compared to the one of those small animals that sustained him until now.

The feeling of happiness was stupendous.

"Hana?" The man called. "Hana?"

No reply. Absolute silence was all what was in that separated enclosure of the truck. He hit the ceiling twice, but Hanatarou still remained silent.

"Hey, you… Byakuya! Oi!" He yelled.

Byakuya did not answer either. He was concentrated on sipping each valuable drop of Hanatarou's blood. The teenager, now lying on the vehicle's floor, did not outline any reaction. His eyes began to lose their luster; his skin had adopted a sickly pallor while his breath assumed a step increasingly weak and slow. His heart beats were scarcely audible, reaching a low rhythm, almost stopping.

Nothing could describe what Byakuya felt in that very moment. It was simply magical.

And too soon, Byakuya was forced to stop. His whole body convulsing in pain. Letting Hanatarou's wrist fall to the floor he rested against the wall, still able to hear his heart beating fast and his stomach trembling as if all the ingested blood started to do him bad.

The brief feeling of completion he felt was fading out and giving way to the emptiness and pains even stronger than before. His head throbbed and his internal organs seemed to intertwine and push themselves inside his body.

"HANATAROU!" The man shouted once again, without obtaining any answer.

Byakuya bent down, placing his hands on his stomach and vomiting blood. The liquid left his body at piles, staining his skin and ragged clothes. It was with a jolt he was thrown to the side when the car stopped abruptly. Then the back doors of the van swung open and a loud, sonorous shout left Ganjuu's mouth.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE?"

None of them replied. They both lacked the strength to do so.

Ganjuu jumped into the van and widened his eyes as he saw Hanatarou's injured wrist and Byakuya's lips stained with blood.

"Hana, are you okay? Hanatarou!"

Byakuya coughed, spitting more blood. His heart was beating at a pace that seemed about to explode.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU, MAN?" Ganjuu shouted, pulling him out of the van.

Byakuya did not protest. He had not strength. At a push of the burly driver, his back met the floor and at kick on his shoulder-blades he rolled downhill, only stopping as his head hit against a hard rock. The tenebrous but welcomed darkness enveloped him once again, making Byakuya close his eyes and loose his lucidity.

When he finally awoke it was night. The stars shone above his head partially hidden by the gray clouds. He touched his clothes, finding them already dried. How long was he there?

The pain in his body had lessened almost completely and now he was just feeling weak. He sat down with some difficulty and leaned against a truck. The existence of many trees around him indicated he was near home, but how? He should not be… Byakuya stopped all of sudden, recalling how he was thrown from the van after he attacked the teenager.

Gosh! Had he really attacked a person like that? Had he drank all the blood of the boy? What kind of monster had he become?

He touched his lips which seemed swollen. Were his fangs bigger? He slid his fingers over the tooth and found it shaper too. They scraped his lower lip, almost hurting him and it was with some difficulty that he had figured out how to retract them.

The noise of something near caught his attention. He looked down at the reliquary that swung on his wrist.

The same petite girl of raven locks and beautiful violet orbs flashed back on his mind. Her delicate lips twitching in a sweet smile as she played with the rabbits in their garden. The suppressed tears on her eyes when he departed and left her behind.

_Rukia…_

He needed to get home. His sister was waiting for him and he needed to give it to her.

But how would he get home? Byakuya did not know, but he surely would find a way to get back to her.

* * *

The orders had been clear enough: whether bring him to the Clan or kill him.

Lisa did not know how she would convince him to join the Clan, but she was sure she could not kill him. He was her son. She had created him. She could never, ever, think of doing such a thing against him. Not that she already had a child before but she knew that when a vampire has its child killed it hurts like hell.

She had heard that it is like a part of you is being eaten out. One of the vampires had gone through it not very long ago. A problem between the clans. They had killed her. Hinamori Momo, a beautiful young vampire. She was not strong enough. Truth be told, she was too naive and had being used by the enemies to get closer to Aizen. Nonetheless, when they could not reach him, they killed her.

Lisa had been recently transformed when it happened. She had never been close to Momo, but everybody knew she was gently, good and cute. Her death was something the new vampire would never forget. In the middle of the night, while they were backing from her first training, a masked man ripped out her heart.

From where they were, the roofs near Las Noches, she heard him crying. She had never seen him crying before. The Icy Vampire was crying like an abandoned child. Drops of blood on his face as he embraced her cold body. He was in pain. She knew. She could feel it in his actions, in the way he balanced her body as if his love could bring her back to him.

She pitied him as she had never pitied anyone before. Lisa wanted to touch his shoulder and pat it friendly, saying that everything would be fine, but she knew it would not. A few things could kill a vampire and rip the heart was one of them.

Then he had gone mad. He killed her nemesis. He also tried to kill her father. Hitsugaya Toushirō killed most of his security guards and some of the most important men of the council. To take revenge she was sure he would kill her, but he did not raise a finger to touch her. He was an honored vampire after all.

And then, when he caught her father's attention, he fought against him. But of course he was dead by the end of the day. Although, before she had to heard him being tortured. Being flogged with whips bathed in aconitum to soon after watch the sunrise. The worst punishment a vampire could receive.

And because of this she should bring Kuchiki Byakuya closer. They were not strangers by the way. They used to be… _friends._ Or so she thought. Not close, because he was cold to everyone. Including _her._

Lisa recalled how he was in the high school. Distant and intelligent, but always cold. Very popular with the girls, but he did not seem to care about that. He did not have friends. And the only person he used to talk was her, but everything changed when she entered his life.

They were in the third year when the Kuchiki Princess joined them in the school. Byakuya was still closed and cold. They did not talk too much, but he was watching over her all the time.

She was always surrounded by Kurosaki Ichigo (a very loud boy), Inoue Orihime (and now she recalled from where she recognized the girl), Yasutora Sado (a silent giant. Ichigo's best friend) and Arizawa Tatsuki (a very good fighter). They were in the first year of the High School and Rukia had already gotten a scholarship to study in one of the best universities of Japan. No wonder she had been adopted into the Kuchiki Family as Byakuya's sister. It seemed Kuchiki Natsumi was infertile and after so many arduous and unsuccessfully attempts to get pregnant, the couple decided to adopt a girl. Rukia was her precious little daughter.

Not much after she was in a mess. The owner of the house where she lived had thrown her at the streets and she had to gather a second job and leave that expensive school and start studying at a public one.

After that, they had never met again. And when she saw him, it was the exactly day of her death. July, 7th. Tanabata Festival. Her body was still in transformation as she was just a girl of 17 years when she was turned into a vampire.

Lisa laughed bitterly. She had never, ever, thought of her own transformation. It was a far a too painful event. But now she was sure, Byakuya would look for her. She had whispered it to him after all. And if she was lucky he would remember her voice as she had remembered her father's.

Closing her eyes, Lisa decided: she would bring him back.

* * *

A few hours later, he reached the residence and was helped by one of the guards of his own house. The commotion he expected, but that he did not wanted to happen, did not take place due to the advanced time.

His keys were nowhere to be found and impatiently he waited for someone to open the door. To Byakuya's surprise, none other than Chōjirō Sasakibe did it, supporting him on his shoulders.

Byakuya let himself being pulled by his butler, feeling too weak to walk on his own through the house. With his head lowered, he could only hear soft footsteps on the floor, but was unable to identify to whom they belonged.

However, he did not need to wait too much for soon Kira muttered a name, "Rukia-sama…"

"Byakuya nii-sama!" She exclaimed, running up to him.

In that very moment, Byakuya fell to his knees, his head resting against her belly as she embraced him protectively.

* * *

A few hours after ― he could not say how much ― he woke up again, this time lying on a soft mattress. His eyes fluttered open and his vision quickly got used to the darkness. Glancing around his surroundings, he noticed the shoji doors that leaded to the huge garden, and also some papers to practice shodō. He did not need too much to realize he was in his bedroom.

Staring at the ceiling, Byakuya blinked twice believing soon he would feel bad and start throwing up all over again. But after some time it did not happen. Sighing, he sat on the bed and noticed that he was clean and his clothes had been changed. The sheet was covering him until his stomach and his hair was still wet. This could only mean that he had not slept for a long time, right?

He was about to get up when something around his left hand tightened. A low growl made him look down just to find Rukia's fingers intertwined with his owns. She was sleeping peacefully, her head resting on the mattress and the rest of her petite body on the floor. She must be uncomfortable in such position.

Byakuya tried to free his hand but to no avail. His movements only caused her to tighten her grip around him and before he could even realize it, he was eyeing her delicate features, smoothly enlightened by the moonlight. Her raven locks were spread across her face, brushing softly her cheeks. A slight frown formed on her brows, but was soon vanished and she continued to breath heavily again.

'_She must be tired'_, he thought, stroking her hand softly. Then, he noticed something rough on her skin. Blood. Dried blood.

Byakuya squinted his eyes a little. She must have soiled herself to support him. She had probably bathed him too and then, too tired, had slept watching over him.

_This girl._

He leaned towards her, not wanting to wake her up and brushed that stubborn lock from her face. He was about to pick her up in his arms and take her to her own room when Rukia moved again, this time showing the entire length of her neck.

Byakuya was so close that his nose touched her fair skin. Her sweet, marvelous scent invaded his nostrils and he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her warm skin against his cold lips.

His breath hitched and he found himself wanting to kiss and feel her skin against him. His body started to respond to such an erotic sight.

What the hell was he thinking?

Quickly, Byakuya moved away, disentangling their hands and causing her to wake up, startled. Her big, violet eyes popped open and hastily, Rukia stood up looking at him.

"Nii-sama!" Her voice went loud as she sat on his bed. "Are you okay?"

Byakuya just nodded, still controlling his senses that shot maddened by her closeness. Her intoxicating perfume invaded his nostrils when she leaned to him, touching his forehead. He did not know why but she looked extremely delicious that night. Scanning her petite frame quickly, he found his mouth watering at the sight of her perk nipples through her white robe.

_Oh hell! She was driving him insane._

"At least you're not feverish."

Sighing relieved, Rukia slid her fingers down to his neck, still measuring his body temperature. It sent a shiver up his spine.

"Rukia..." He called; his voice dangerously low.

She was… _too close._

"Are you feeling better now?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes at that question. How did she expect he would be okay if she was so close? If her skin was almost glued on his own. If he could hear every single beat of her heart and the mere sight of her small breasts through the nighty was turning him on more than it should?

Closing his eyes ― a vain attempt to send away every and any sinful image ―, Byakuya grabbed her wrist and pulled her away sharply. Rukia gasped, unable to understand his abrupt behavior. With the sudden movement, her robe was opened, exposing her creamy skin to his appreciation.

"Move away," he said, straitening on his sitting position. "I am fine."

"I'm sorry," she muttered, lowering her gaze. Then, getting up, she picked up a tray with fresh food. "You should eat now, Nii-sama."

'_Yes, I should', _he thought as he looked at her porcelain neck again.

He shook his head, stunned at how such wrong thoughts had been shelling him lately. His act, however, must have seemed to her as a refusal to the offered food, as she quickly protested.

"But you must eat something, Nii-sama!"

"I am fine." He guaranteed, pushing the glass of water offered to him aside.

"How many days have you been without food?" She bent over him again. This time Byakuya pushed her aside so abruptly that the glass escaped her hand and hit the floor. Startled, Rukia looked at him and spoke up, "But you…"

"I said I am fine." Byakuya uttered these words as calmly as possible. Closing his eyes again he wondered why he felt so stressed and why so many emotions seemed to explode within him. "I do not need anything."

Rukia huffed, throwing him a sidelong glance, between worried and angry. How could someone that a few moments before had fainted reject food?

She moved away, walking towards the window and closing it soundly. She took off her stained robe and hugged her own arms to warm herself up. From the bed, Byakuya watched how her hips swung as she stepped back to him.

Shaking those sinful thoughts, he looked up to her eyes. Anger was clear like water in those pools. He knew she was mad at him and if he was one of her friends she would slap him for sure. But he was her brother and near him she always acted completely different.

Rukia approached and his body continued to react strong to their proximity. He could not understand why it was happening. When she placed a hand on his forehead again, he could see the valley between her small breasts perfectly. In that very moment, as so many wrong thoughts filled his mind, Byakuya knew he should make her get away from his bedroom as soon as possible.

He breathed twice, trying to regain the self-control he always prided himself for keeping even in the most complicated situations, but that seemed to be lacked right now.

The mere proximity of their bodies made it even harder. His fangs emerged, brushing his lips and Byakuya wished, deeply, he could stick them into her soft neck and taste if her blood was as delicious as her body looked.

"Rukia," he said, his hoarse tone betraying the usual cold and emotionless man he was.

The girl turned to face him and was suddenly alarmed as she saw his eyes closed and him gritting his teeth slightly. She was still touching his forehead, but differently from what she had imagined, he was cold to be with high temperature.

"Are you really okay, Nii-sama?" She asked, approaching more.

The way their skin brushed against each other and how her hot breath caressed his skin and her heart beat so fast was too much for him to handle. All of this was a profound torture.

"You worry me greatly when…"

In a speed he did not know he had, he grabbed her by the wrist and lay her down on the mattress, his body hovering over hers. Rukia gasped, stopping talking as she felt him between her legs. Subconsciously, she moved a bit, causing her hip to rub against his. Her eyes widened at the feeling of his hardness brushing against her body, pulsing in touch with her most private area.

She shivered in pleasure, biting her lower lip before asking, "What are you…" But he cut her midst of sentence, placing his lips on hers.

* * *

The man entered the old area of the Palace at a steady pace. A grin outlined on his face as he crossed the rustic corridor. The torches lighted up automatically, illuminating his way. And though he did not need it, he found the situation quite funny.

Those humans were_… incredibly functional. _

And as he reached the secret room, the doors swung open alone, startling him a bit. The sound of old bolts on the dark wood, made everything around him look even gloomier and haunting.

Entering the room, the man bowed his head slightly, before closing the door behind him with a sonorous _click._

"You don't need such formalities, Gin." The man said as he rose up and approached the window.

It amused the man with silvery locks further. Though the room had windows they did not face the outside. It was just a locked, wheezy window that only served as architectural ornament, since the place and its surroundings were nothing but abandoned, built under the main edifice.

And that is why the place was called Las Noches, because no daylight could ever touch that sanctuary. There, the vampires were safe from the day and the sun. It was always night there.

"You acted quite well today, Aizen-sama." Gin approached the round table in the centre of the room, eyeing the photos spread around the wooden surface.

Aizen did not turn to face him, not bothering himself with his smarmy comment. But he knew about what he was speaking of. Lisa had not being punished that night, when it should have happened. His excuse? Bring Kuchiki Byakuya to the Clan, so they could have full access to the _Detention Unit._ What she had done, in the very end was not considered such a big mistake.

In other hand, he could not let her disobedience unanswered. This way, now she was not the only responsible for the _Onmintsukidō_ anymore and Grimmjow Jaegerjaques was disputing with her the leadership of Commander-in-Chief and Executive Militia.

Not that it mattered. It did not. In the end, most of the members of the Council did think she was a Princess and as one she should not bother herself with such a low issues. Another thing that did not matter. Lisa could play the princess and at the same time the warrior, since her life was not in danger, as he knew it was not, she could do whatever she wanted.

Excuse Grimmjow for his acts was another thing he did not care. He would let him be punished as he should, but this time Gin came to help him, attesting he was under of what happened. In other words, he had asked the vampire to fulfill _that_ special task and after this, Aizen had no reasons to punish the brat vampire.

He shifted his attention to him who was touching one of the pictures. A man in his middle-twenties looked back at them, a stoic expression on his handsome face. Byakuya… The newborn vampire. Beside Kuchiki Byakuya's photo there was an image of Yadomaru Lisa, his daughter.

"The Council will never suspect what you did."

Again no answer. He knew Gin quite well and could easily say the man had something on his mind and it did not include compliments to his behavior at the Meeting.

"Speak once."

The smile faded out on his face as he spoke. His eyes were still half-closed as he continued to stare at the pictures.

"He's back to the city."

A man with green and white striped hat flashed back on his mind. Aizen's mouth twitched slightly as he spoke up. "I see."

And that was the information Grimmjow had searched for last night.

The silence took over them. Both of them thinking in a specific man, though for different reasons. Gin walked around the table and dared to break it. His eyes still on the pictures before them.

"He probably knows the identity of the third part."

Aizen walked away and by adding more ashes to the fireplace spoke, "He probably is after the third part."

"I can reunite my men and if you want..." He left the sentence in the air. Nevertheless, Aizen understood what he meant, as he quickly replied.

"No." And though his tone was serious, he smiled a bit. "You have no need to worry, Gin. Because everything is going according to the plan."

* * *

It was just a soft brush, but it sent a whirlwind of sensations through their bodies. Rukia squeezed her eyes shut; parting her lips a bit as she gasped slightly. Taking advantage of her opened mouth, Byakuya slithered his tongue over her lips, savoring her sweet taste.

Rukia's fingers curled up on his hair, and she found herself reaching her own tongue to touch his, moaning when their pink muscles met, caressing one another gently. Slowly, she began to giving in, enjoying this wrong moment, but as soon as it started, he finished it, causing her to open her eyes and stare at him utterly confused.

Byakuya pulled away just enough to look at her face and notice how she was breathing heavily; her cheeks flushed. An adorable pink covering her skin. With his thumb he traced her swollen lips and narrowed his eyes a bit.

"I said you should leave." His voice was just a husky murmur. Still cold as the reality crashed him not so gently. He had kissed his sister. _His bloody sister!_ And to think it was not the first time…

"Byakuya…" She was still breathing heavily, her fingertips pressed on his bare shoulders.

"Did you not realize you are being impertinent?"

After this question, he moved away, knowing he had crossed all the limits with that kiss. However, before he could go far away, she wrapped her legs around his hips, locking him close to her.

Byakuya knew that if he wanted, he could free himself quickly from her grasp, but he did not want to hurt her. So he slid his hand down her thigh, trying to push her away gently, but it only made her glue her body against him, her round hips sliding under his.

"Rukia, let go of me." He demanded, closing his eyes to dispel that feeling.

"Why do you have to always run away from me?" Her loud voice caused him to open his eyes. Slate gray locked on glowing violet. Caressing his face, she murmured, "I'm just worried about you!"

Her fingertips traced a gentle way on his face, pulling away a lock of hair from his eyes and putting it behind his ear. The warmth of her skin against his icy one was so good. _So pleasant._ Soft as the brush of cherry blossoms...

Byakuya found himself mesmerized by her big, expressive eyes. A violet color so intense and that seemed so worried… Why was she worried about him, a practically stranger? Someone that had left her behind, that made her cry in the past?

Rukia kept stroking him and Byakuya closed his again eyes enjoying that innocent moment between them. Her hot touch on his body, her calm breath against his skin... Her little heart beating, cadenced, on her chest.

Before he even knew it, he bent down and placed a soft kiss on Rukia's jawline. He felt her shuddering beneath him, but she made no move to push him away. Then, he caressed her again. This time planting an open-mouthed kiss down her throat. His tongue flickering out to lick the porcelain skin of her neck.

_Her skin was… as soft as the most expensive Indian silk._

Soon his lips ran over her petite shoulders and his fingers slowly worked on the strands of her nighty. Her breath hitched and with some difficulty she tried to stifle a moan. _Tried…_

His heightened senses captured any minimal reaction of the soft and delicate body beneath him. Byakuya's lips roamed her skin arousing foreign sensations on whatever they touched. When he reached her earlobe and nibbled it lightly, she could not hold a loud moan.

"Byakuya…" She buried her nails into his shoulders, her feet sliding against his legs, her move dragging his body closer to hers.

_Rukia… _

Byakuya smirked against her skin, pleased. His hand found the way to her toned thighs, stroking it as slow as possible. His lips hovering over hers to absorb a moan when he reached the border of her panties and played with it.

He did not know what he was doing. He just knew he had to stop while he still had a tiny flame of self-control within him. But the way she moaned in his ears and how her eyes shone with a hint of lust… _So palpable._ All of it was turning him on badly. Byakuya knew how wrong it was. It was simply crazy to take her like that. To want her like that. More than wrong.

But why did she surrender that way? Returning his kiss, making him groan against her luscious lips while arching her back; offering herself to him? Why?

The kiss became more intense and was necessary all of his forces to broke apart and let her breath. His teeth bit hers lips slightly, gaining a mildly moan and soon went down her neck, until reaching her breasts. Rukia's breath stopped on her throat when his tongue provoked her pearl through her nightdress.

Byakuya looked up, sinking on her pleased expression. Rukia bit her bottom lip, squeezing her eyes as he blew cold air on her sensitized nipple before sucking on it gently. Her hands travelled from the sheets to his hair, pressing his head against her chest, urging him on.

She felt so good, this way, under him. He was beyond of wrapped in a haze of lust when she mewed his name again, trembling beneath his experienced fingers. He played with her left breast, cupping it smoothly, before getting rid of the fabric. The cool night breeze touched her ivory skin, making her nipples grew even harder. His lips resumed their work on her mounds, sucking on it slightly; driving her wild.

Subconsciously, Rukia began to move her hips, begging for his touches in other places. Without stopping to caress her breasts, Byakuya slid his fingers over her belly, stroking her hips and downwards. Taking his time, he fondled her inner thighs, in slow, circular motions.

For a brief moment, he looked up, his mouth placed on her ear as he murmured, _"Open your eyes, Rukia… Look at me." _And she did as she was told. Her big, violet eyes shot open at the sound of his husky voice and his warm finger caressing her most private area through her underwear.

His member throbbed as he felt how wet she was. _So ready for him..._ Byakuya had never felt so eager to please a woman as he felt now, with Rukia.

He bent to kiss her fully, startling her a bit. His tongue caressing every corner of her luscious mouth. With his fingers he started a slight movement of back and forth on her clit, pulling out light moans of her lips. His tongue followed his finger's pace assaulting her mouth slowly, almost to torture her.

Impatiently, Rukia bucked her hips over and over, wishing he could speed up his pace. But he did not compelled, not so quickly. He inserted a finger in and slowly moved it inside her. She gulped at the foreign sensation, but did not stop him, instead moving according to the cadence driven by him, as the second finger found the way to her core.

And though he had not taken her panties off, his finger was stroking her pulsating flesh, sliding easily given her lubrication. Byakuya knew she was close, he could say it by the small spasms of pleasure that began to build in her body, her panting breath and the way her heart beat.

"You feel so good." He muttered into her mouth, before the sensation of her tightening around his fingers. His lips travelled down to her breasts again and Rukia was eager to feel his touches there, but Byakuya did not stop, running his tongue on her belly and sinking it on her navel. Rukia's body began to shake slightly, as it seemed to be consumed by a heat she never felt before. Her breath was coming out as sobs. She bit her lip to prevent loud cries, but Byakuya made it impossible as he placed his mouth on her sweet spot.

The pleasure was undeniable. Holding onto his shoulders, her eyes were filled with uncountable white lights and when she thought she could handle it no longer… _She exploded. _

Byakuya's senses shot during her peak. He continued to feast on her, holding her hips in place as she climaxed in his mouth and fingers. His name dancing on her luscious lips. But all he could think of were her heartbeats and the blood flowing faster through her veins.

His lips made their way back to her mouth and while kissing her lightly on the lips, he resumed stroking her hips and groaned as she moved against his body. Her eyes widened at the feeling of him so close to her. Biting her lips, he shifted to her delicate neck, kissing her pulse point. His fingers also resumed his work on her, never stopping his caress.

This time he ignored his need and how he was aching for release. This night was hers. He was there to pleasure her. He took pleasure on hearing her moaning his name.

_His name…_ It never felt so sweet. So right on her swollen lips.

After a few more strokes she was close again. This time Byakuya could barely restrain the thirst that built up on his body. His throat was so dry. His fangs came out and brushed her soft skin.

A thirst he never felt in his entire life. A desire to please her as never before.

Rukia cried out his name loudly, holding him tight by his shoulders as the climax approached. His fingers were now reaching a freak speed, leading her towards an explosive orgasm.

Her scent... _Her heart beating that way._ All of this was too much to him…

Without stopping to stroke her, he bit her neck. The blood flowing straight to his mouth and feeding him. Rukia was still trembling with the waves of the pleasure he gave her and the hint of pain she felt was almost nothing in comparison of the myriad of sensations that wrapped her body at that moment.

Holding her by the neck, Byakuya found her blood even sweeter than the boy in the previous afternoon. It was exactly what he needed to satisfy his thirst.

_So incredible tasty... _

He groaned against her skin, wishing he could make that moment last forever. To not have an end.

She was... _Perfect._

But as soon as he felt her grip on his hair loosening, he forced himself to stop. His canines left her skin and he licked the last trace of blood on her neck, purring low with her delicious taste. The bite marks disappeared and there was no sign of what happened.

He moved away to look at her in the eyes and mess was what he had saw there. Maybe a hint of fear? She pulled away from him, turning her face to the side and touching her neck.

Rukia was still panting as she looked back at him. There were much more than fear there. Repugnance? Or was it only a reflection of what he felt in that moment, disgust of himself?

What kind of a monster had he turned himself into to do that to his own sister?

Gosh! He just wished she could forget it. That she did not remember that night and what happened between them. In a low tone he whispered his wish in her ears, not knowing that, for the first time, he was mesmerizing her.

Now, out of the room, he closed his eyes and retracted his fangs, not bothering to hide the lasts effects of his arousal. He sighed at the acknowledge of what had happened right there.

Byakuya was thirsty and there was only one person who could satiate it.

* * *

**A/N – I know it's a pretty long chapter xD I'm sorry.**

**What can I say? This fanfic will last only 14 chapters, so they'll always have this length. If you don't like, let me know and I'll see what I can do.**

**Some explanation: **_**Kinogaya**_** is a district in Karakura Town showed in Bleach manga and anime series. In Kinogaya there's the Remains of the Sukari Building. Here I used it as the Residential where the Kuchiki Family lives.**

_**Onmitsukidō **_**(secret tactics and also Stealth Forces in English)****is an organization inside Central 46 along with Gotei 13 and Kidō Corps, commanded by the Second Division. Considered a covert guard that always acts secretly, they carry carry top-secret missions as execution of shinigami who broke the laws.**

**In Bleach manga and anime series, Soi Fong is the Commander-in-Chief and also holds the position of the Executive Militia. ****Onmitsukidō** has 5 sub-organizations and each one of them is controlled by the 5 first seats in the Second Division. To Mesmerized, there are only 3 divisions inside **and as you saw, Lisa controls them. It'll be explained better why the **_**Detention Unit, **_**in the manga once controlled by Urahara, is not part of the group Lisa rules.  
**

**I also apologize in advance if some of you think Byakuya is too OOC in this chapter. I know he is. But sorry, he's just a human. I can't make him fight a vampire and win. I don't know what you think, but it would sound too unrealistic to me. Hope you can understand it xD**

**I'm also working with a newborn vampire. I know when it comes to vampire stories; you're used to see a Vampire Lord Byakuya. It's not the case here. Remember the **_**'Loved One legend'**_**? It's exactly because of this legend Byakuya is a newbie. I think it's a good opportunity to work with him under a different light. Yet, I'll do my best to keep them in character in the next chapters. **

**I think I wrote too much. Sorry. **

**Now, replying some reviews:**

**Vampirelover – **OMG! I'm glad that someone else likes vampires. They're not this popular anymore, don't you think? Hope you like this chapter and developments.

**ReckoningDay – **Hey! Glad to see you here! Hope you like this chapter ^^

**Kuchiki Jenny – **Oie! Obrigada pelo review e pelos elogios também. Espero que goste dessa fic como gosta de DCYH.

**Well... I think that's all. I'm still writing chapter 2. But I think I'll be able to update next week, if not… See you in the next 15 days.**

**Take care,**

**Velvetsins**


	3. II - Room of the Damned

**I know, I know. It took me more than one week and more than 15 days, but real life has been busy lately, so my apologies. **

**Firstly, I have to say I'm impressed this fanfic got so many reviews after last chapter. I was not expecting this. So thank you so much you all. Your reviews really made my days. **

**So thank you to each one of you who took your time to review my last chapter** (Vampirelover; PAMILA DE CASTRO; ReckoningDay; Kurosaki Uryuu; Noctis Vee Caelum; LizzyByaruk; CielDoll; vicky73; RagelvlitsOver9000; Guest; Luisa; arlingtonsteward; YuzurihaNoRyuu; Kuchiki Jenny; LuciL06; Nyanmaru94 and Fleur Mai) **and those who added this story to the favorites and alert list.**

**Special thanks to my beta, Mandy, who dedicated her time to proofread it for me. Thanks, dear 3**

**And special thanks also to Cieldoll who warned me about Kinogaya. It was a mistype. I wrote **'Kinoyaga'** when it is **'Kinogaya'**. I'm sorry and thank you so much.**

**And well… I think it's enough, good reading! The chapter is not this big, but I replied all the guest reviews and the ones I can't via PM in the 2****nd**** AN, so that's why it became this little monster.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but I own this plot. The cover image is edited by me, the artist is the amazing Punkykoolkat.**

**Warnings: Will contain at times; violence, sexual, drugs and religions references, coarse language and possibly OCCness.**

* * *

**II. ROOM OF THE DAMNED**

* * *

_'Shit! I'm late!'_ Rukia thought to herself as she climbed out of the luxury car. Looking at her left wrist, her eyes popped open as she saw the watch hands showing 7:15am. _She was so bloody late!_

She did not close the door or heard Renji cursing at her, let alone saw him maneuvering the Chrysler 300C with a plastered moody expression on his face, for she had left the parking lot and entered the glassy double doors.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" The girl cursed under her breath while running through the corridors. She was fifteen minutes late for the first class. Moreover: late for the exam.

And to think she was only late because she had spent the whole night studying Greek and Roman Mythology. Then, when it was too late (or too early, she concluded, at recalling the sky was no longer darker) she slept over her notebook.

She would be considerably glad if her sleep had been a good one. On contrary, it had been filled with awkward dreams of her brother (these kept repeating in her mind for the past few nights after the symbolic burial and she had no idea why they started in the first place, neither why with her adopted brother), and some nightmares about her birth mother (and these ones she did not have for what seemed like centuries).

When she woke up, despite being completely late, she was with a strong headache that no painkiller seemed able to ease.

To complete her bright, good day, she had no option to get to school but using the family car, for her brother had taken the motorbike that morning and Renji's was at the mechanic.

Taking her car was out of question. She knew it was parked on Byakuya's parking lot, far away from the Manor since the accident. And the keys for the others were all with him. He gave no explanation for what she considered a very controller act.

Quickening her pace, Rukia let out a sigh of relief as she closed the door. The entire auditorium went silent when she entered. All the students stared at her curiously as the girl leaned against the wooden door and closed her eyes briefly.

_Finally!_ She smiled to herself, glad that she was finally there after a whole night of nightmares and a rushed morning. Catching her breath, Rukia opened her eyes and stepped forward, unable to understand why her classmates were staring at her that way. '_Never mind', _she thought ready to take her seat, however, before she could make any move, a very masculine voice sounded behind of her, "You are late again, Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia's eyes widened at the size of saucers as she recognized the owner of such disapproval tone. Tōsen Kaname. Mostly known as…

"Tōsen-sensei… I'm sorry."

Now Rukia knew why all her classmates were staring at her with indistinguishable curiosity. Some of them gossiped about her clumsy entrance and others about how messy she looked. Others, about how she was disturbing them to finish the exam.

The girl narrowed her eyes, truly bothered at their lack of consideration, but sighed, knowing perfectly well she could not blame them. She was the one causing problems again.

Shifting her attention to the professor behind of her, Rukia thought of what she could possibly say this time. _'I was studying?' _No. It would not work.

"You all may resume your exams."

All of sudden the students stopped looking at them and turned their attention to the exam in their hands.

Rukia nibbled her lip slightly. He would not believe her. It was not the first time it happened. Actually, it was occurring very often. She simply felt so sleepy and tired during the morning that she could not wake up in time to the first class. Coincidentally it was always his class.

He remained silent and even though he was using that band-like visor over his eyes and she knew he was completely blind, she was under the impression he could see and read her expression right now.

"Can I…" She started, a bit unsure. Why was she even asking? She already knew the answer.

"No." And though his voice was not harsh, Rukia felt like a child being scolded. "It's not fair if you start your exam right now when some of your fellow students already left the class for the same reason as you, being late. However, as all of them, you have until next week to give me an article about what we have been studying the past few classes."

"Really?" Rukia could almost not believe in what he had just said. When she entered the class late again she thought she would be screwed up, for like… _forever. _But there was him, giving her another chance. "Hm… Arigatou, Tōsen-sensei."

The girl felt like hugging him closer to show how grateful she was. Although his subject (an optional one) meant almost nothing to her, Rukia would never forgive herself if she got a bad score that could possibly bring shame upon the Kuchiki Family. Her brother had already too much to deal with to handle with a girl unable to get a good grade at college.

"You are dismissed now. You already disturbed too much." He said and by reaching out his hand, placed a piece of paper on her hand. "Here you have the three options for your article. If you have any doubts you may ask me."

"Thank you again, sensei." Bowing dutifully, Rukia squeezed the paper between her fingers, not understanding his gentle demeanor.

"And Kuchiki-san, do not test your luck too much. Your family may own this college, but you are still just a student."

"H-hai." She lowered her head; feeling too embarrassed to face him anymore.

* * *

'_The case remains the same. We still have no idea of who killed them.'_ The words of the detective kept repeating on his mind since he received that note.

He already knew who their nemesis was. At least, the kind of creature who had done it. What Byakuya did not know (and that's why he had hired the best detective in the town) was where their corpses were. The rest he could do by himself.

He owed this to his peace of mind. But Byakuya knew he was also doing it for Rukia. To ease her pain and bring her some comfort. Somehow, no matter how many times he had said her to not feel, to not care, he knew deep inside she was suffering. How many times one can lose the loved ones in a tragic way and still stay strong?

Nevertheless, there she was, proving herself stronger. Instead of crying, she had been doing her best to not disappoint her mother and studying hard to get her degree at the end of the Semester. To not disappoint everything her mother had done for her, to keep the expectative.

"And then you have a meeting with Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō. It'll last about one hour, but you also have for the same hour… _Shachō?_"

Byakuya snapped back from his reverie and stared at his secretary. Sitting in front of him, she was eyeing him with arched brows.

They were, during the past ten minutes, checking his schedule for the next days. Rearranging meetings, business dinners and, mainly the upcoming events the Presidency and advisors majority would attend soon.

"Yes?" Byakuya said. His tone indifferent, as if nothing had happened.

The secretary adjusted her glasses and he thought she was probably intrigued by his sudden dispersion.

Frowning a bit more, she stared back at the notebook in her hands before speaking up, "We have a problem with your schedule. Two meetings in the same hour. As I said the usual meeting with Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō-_buchō_ and the one you scheduled by yourself with Zaraki Kenpachi-_buchō_. Which one should I cancel?"

Byakuya noticed the scolding intention behind her apparently normal voice, but said nothing as he stared at the wall thoughtfully. He could not cancel any of these meetings, both were extremely important.

Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō, the head of the legal department, and him were discussing the convenience of having an alliance with the Haschwalth Pharmaceutical Enterprises. After his parent's death, the purchase development of the Germany Company had been stalled and just now, a week after the symbolic burial, they resumed the process.

Zaraki Kenpachi was the Security Chief of the entire Hospital and University. Byakuya did not like him. He was too coarse-mannered in his opinion, but he knew his father trusted the man with his life. In fact, his work had been sufficiently good for a while, mainly during the days his father managed the Hospital. However, they had recently been receiving some _unexpected guests. _The Detention Unit almost got invaded twice for the past few weeks.

He would meet both men for different, but extremely, important reasons. He could not cancel them.

"Replace."

"What?" She asked, looking at him with undisguised curiosity. "You don't have any space on your schedule. Your last meeting finishes at…"

"Book a dinner with Rōjūrō Otoribashi tomorrow. I will meet Zaraki Kenpachi today at 7:00 pm."

"But… Of course, _Shachō._"

And though she was against his decision, she said nothing. Sighing, she flipped the sheets of her notebook and read something. Her face seeming concentrated.

Byakuya watched her every movements and deep blue eyes roaming faster over the paper. Nanao Ise. No more than 23 years old and holding the highest rank of secretary of the Kuchiki Enterprises. They were working together for not very long ago. Actually, since he assumed the position of the President. Regardless of being a few time to say more about her, Byakuya knew she was discreet, responsible and loyal. Any other would have asked about his night habits. But not her. Nanao had adapted his schedule for night and, whenever was possible, she would book voice and video conferences he could participate from his own apartment.

She had also adapted her schedule and changed her own habits to stay with him working through the night and taking a rest during the day. All of it without asking for a pay rise or the reason behind his weird demeanor. But being who he was, Byakuya had doubled her salary. Her hard work and discretion were very important to him.

"_Shachō?_"She called after a few minutes analyzing her notebook. Byakuya nodded, giving her the permission to speak. "Will you give the lecture your father used to give at the end of the semester?"

Byakuya stared at her in silence. His mind was so filled with many other problems he had completely forgotten about the semiannually traditional event the presidency used to attend. Each beginning and end of the semester they welcomed the new students and said goodbye to the graduated ones.

In spite of Karakura not being a big town, it housed one of the most important University Hospitals of the country. The Hospital complex also harbored a renowned Research Center, along with the Detention Unit – reference treatment center for psychopaths – which attracted many workers and students. The Lecture, in this case, was also a traditional way to strengthen the power of the Kuchiki Family, even though he did not like the idea the tiniest bit, mainly because the man who was coordinating the University by his side was Tōsen Kaname and different from most of the advisers, Byakuya did not like him.

"Yes," he replied. "Is there something more?" He asked, a bit displeased at this forgotten attribution.

"Yes. I need you to sign these agreements." Sliding the folder on his desk, she added, "The President of Haschwalth Enterprises will send someone to retire the documents in two days."

"No." Byakuya said, already reviewing the document. "You will do it. I want you to come with Renji and deliver the agreements personally."

Nanao opened her mouth to reply, but Byakuya cut her off by adding, "Rukia did not sign."

"She will do it today. Actually, I did book a time for her in your schedule for 30 minutes."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes a little. And was she really speaking of lack of space on his schedule?

"She wants to talk with you." Nanao hurried to explain. "She'll arrive in the next minutes," she barely finished her sentence when they heard a steady voice and two knocks on the door.

"Kuchiki _Shachō."_

* * *

"_Konnichiwa,_ Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue greeted the red-haired boy as he took a seat in front of her. Smiling sweetly she handled her orange juice to him, which he promptly refused with a simply shake of head.

"_Konnichiwa_, Inoue," Ichigo said and looked at the menu, ready to order something when he noticed Rukia's absence. "Where's Rukia?"

"Huh?" Orihime stopped, sucking on her sippy. "Kuchiki-san?" She asked and Ichigo nodded. At this time, the red-haired girl stopped talking and closed her eyes briefly. A sudden pain hit her head strongly, but she covered it with a smile.

"Inoue?"

She bit her lower lip, trying to suppress a groan. She had been feeling this way since last week. Perhaps since the other, she did not know exactly. Perhaps two or three weeks ago. But she knew it had started shortly after the man with silver-white hair had returned her home.

Noticing her own lack of answer, Inoue slapped her forehead twice. "Ahhh… She's just late, Kurosaki-kun. But I'm sure she's coming."

"I see." He eyed her suspiciously while grabbing his glass. _'She'll do better not to miss more classes.'_

His thoughts were, without his acknowledge, turned into words that Inoue quickly understood and by suppressing another groan as the pain increased, she replied, "But she just lost her parents!"

Ichigo frowned, thinking Inoue was definitely not normal that day. Nevertheless, he could not help but agree with his friend. It had been just a week since the symbolic burial of her parents. Three weeks since the accident. And although she always tried to be strong with them, they knew, deep inside, she was suffering.

"I think she needs some time with her brother too. Kuchiki-kun is probably so sad… Poor them!" Her expression followed her voice. A finger playing on her lips as she thought about Rukia's situation.

"Sad, you said?" Ichigo almost chocked. "The man doesn't even have a heart! He's probably a burden, demanding from her the perfection to give the others no reason to badmouth that shit Clan of his."

Nonetheless, Inoue was no longer hearing what he was speaking. Gritting her teeth, she placed the glass on the marble counter and closed her eyes once again. At a level she thought her head would explode. It seemed there was something hitting her badly.

Every and any type of noise was like a profound torture. She could hear people drumming their fingers on the table; the cutlery scraping on the plates and a very loud annoying crow cawing nearby. And all of it was only increasing the pain.

Ichigo stopped talking, looking at her carefully; watching how she pressed her fingers in her temples. Her tips almost white given the pressure.

"Inoue… Are you okay?"

"Uh… Yes!" She smiled, biting her lower lip to prevent a groan. "I-I'm fine, Kurosaki-kun."

"Well… you don't look very…"

The buxom girl closed her eyes. The lamp above her head seemed to burn into her dilated irises. "This light… It's hurting me."

"Inoue?"

She fell to the floor, causing Ichigo to kneel by her side and shake her slightly.

"Inoue…" He called, concern all written over his face and voice. "Talk to me, Inoue."

Eyes closed, she kept pressing her temples. Her lips all sore and bleeding. The orange-haired girl gritted her teeth, tears running down her pale cheeks.

The pain was unbearable.

"It hurts, Kurosaki-kun." She cried, grabbing his t-shirt and pressing her face against his large chest. "It hurts a lot! Please, stop the pain, Kurosaki-kun!"

Her tears wetted the fabric of his t-shirt as Ichigo embraced her back, trying to calm her down with reassuring words that did not work. She kept muttering how much it hurt and how the light was piercing her eyes as if it was a deadly dagger.

"Inoue… Calm down. Look at me." His tone was firm this time, causing the girl to stop crying and look up to meet his eyes. She sneezed twice and loosened her grip around the fabric of his purple T-shirt.

But as soon as their eyes met, the lights switched off, just to be turned on shortly after and explode in a matter of seconds. Pieces of glasses spread around the restaurant and everything around them shook violently. Plates, glasses, bottles broke, tables were swept way and tableware fell to the floor, creating a loud noise. People ran from one side to another, trying to keep the things in place when a strong wave of wind dragged everything out of place.

Ichigo looked down just to find Inoue's eyes all white, her body shaking in his arms. When the usual gray color returned to her irises, she screamed his name once again before fainting.

Cawing once again, the crow left the bar.

* * *

Rukia touched the small rhodium reliquary that was hugging around her neck. It was simple, yet beautiful.

Sighing, she wondered if she should knock on her brother's office door right now. Nanao had said they would probably be checking his schedule when she arrived there.

She raised her hand, but stopped halfway, not sure of what she could say. Perhaps, and if she was lucky enough, she could just sign the agreements and leave. She had to meet her friends again to study after all. Not to mention the article she had to write. He surely would not mind, would he?

If Rukia could be honest with herself, she would admit the problem was not speaking to him, but the mere fact of seeing him by itself. How could she face Byakuya after all _those dreams? _

She lowered her hand. The images came flawless in her mind. Scenes of her and her brother doing to one another unthinkable things. _Lustful._ The kind of thing that siblings should not do. _Never._

Byakuya's fingers running down her skin, holding the straps of her nighty, undressing her slowly. The sensation of her lips against his, their nude skins sliding against one another together. The temporary coldness of his body and then, the pleasant warmth that seemed to surround him whenever he kissed her neck.

The mere thought sent a chill up her spine and Rukia shut her eyes tightly, trying to dispel any image of her mind.

His deep, husky voice... His intense, slate gray eyes and his skilled hands that always seemed willing ― more than willing ― to guide her towards an indescribable pleasure. Then, she saw herself doing things she never thought possible, let alone with her brother. But for all the demons, just seemed too good.

Widening her eyes, Rukia knocked on the door fiercely, refusing to give much thought to those _indecent_ scenes. "Kuchiki _Shachō." _She said, barely able to suppress the images that had been chasing her for the last days.

Not much after, she heard his deep, commanding voice. _"Enter."_ He said, causing the raven-haired girl to blink twice, startled.

Shaking her head, Rukia turned the doorknob and entered the room. Her cheeks tinted with the deepest shade of crimson.

"I'm glad to see you again, Kuchiki-san."Nanao rose up from the seat and picked up her belongings. "I'll make sure no one will interrupt you both, Kuchiki-san, _Shachō._"

Both of them said nothing as the secretary took her leave. Byakuya stared at Rukia deeply, taking his time on her flushed cheeks. Her hands were also trembling slightly. Was she fine?

He could not say, for they barely had seen each other since the symbolic burial. He was never at home, preferring the solitude of his own apartment and the proximity to the Hospital. To not mention, the quite big distance it created between them. The very few times he could be found in the Manor, Rukia was not around. It seemed she was playing the game of _keeping-apart-of-each-other_ as much as he was.

In any case, it was not like being around her was a safe thing. And he would be glad if she could notice it by herself ― which, he knew, would not happen. To keep himself under control proved to be something increasingly difficult.

He watched as she glanced back to the door and bit her lip fiercely. Straitening up on his sitting position, Byakuya waited her to speak first, but as it did not happen, he cleared his throat.

"Rukia," he said, his tone low as he observed her glued on the floor. "You may sit."

"H-hai." She replied, taking the seat in front of him. Her eyes, however, kept far from his tall figure. She was so nervous and ashamed of herself that to look at him was a difficult task. What if he knew? He could not read minds, could he?

Inhaling deeply, she asked, "Where are the agreements?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes a little before sliding the documents over the table. His inky pen outstretched for her. Without looking at him, Rukia took it ― the faster she did it, the faster she could leave his presence.

Nevertheless, when the tip of the pen was almost touching the paper, she felt him holding her right wrist. Her violet eyes shot open as she tried to free herself from his grasp.

"Rukia." His cold tone made her stop fighting. "Is there something wrong with you?"

And though it sounded as a question, Rukia knew he was demanding an explanation.

"Nothing. Why?" She forced her most indifferent tone and at seeing he would not let go of her arm, she started, "Can I…"

He narrowed his eyes a bit more. He did not trust her words. Something was going on with her, though he could not picture exactly _what. _Was she having those nightmares again? Could it be the explanation of why she had been avoiding him?

Eyeing her closer, he noticed how her skin was paler ― the white lab coat only highlighted her paleness, making her look a bit fragile, and he wondered if she had come from her loved pharmacy classes ― and her eyes seemed opaque. And it could not be because he had been… _feeding on her. _

No. Last time happened almost one week ago. He tried. He really tried to get away from her. But when he realized it, they were leaving his study room, after making senseless love over the desk. This time he controlled himself to not drink of her ― since he had done it no more than three days before. However, when she climaxed, she dragged with her any coherent thought ― if he still knew what that was.

She was _irresistible._

Once he pierced the vein on her porcelain skin, she climaxed again. As he knew she would. It drove him wild. Gosh! To be with her was a sweet torture and Byakuya never thought he would enjoy it so much.

After that, he had fed her with his blood and, as always, erased her memories. It was the first time it happened. He usually stopped when he felt her breath softening and her grip over his hair loosening. But not that night. He had lost his control, something that had never happened before. Not even in their first time together.

Rukia squealed a bit loud, causing him to break from his thoughts and stare at her silently. Byakuya noticed he was probably hurting her and let go of her arm, but did not break the eye contact.

He could feel her blood running through her veins; her heart racing a bit. Her parted lips were deliciously inviting him to devour her thoroughly. Averting the attention, he tried to dispel the thirst that threatened to overcome him. It always happened when he was close to her. She was so alluring he could barely restrain himself from react to her. And the more he drank from her, the more addicted he became.

No many days after that night when he returned home, and she sneaked into his room and when he was back to his senses, she was again laying on his mattress. This time completely nude, her cheeks flushed while the raven-haired girl struggled to regain her breath after an intense love-making session.

As always, guilt washed over him after he mesmerized her. He had not only had sex with his sister, but had taken her virginity!

Byakuya never thought she was still untouched. For all the demons! He was taking from her what she probably would give to the man she loved. Has Rukia such a special person? He did not know why but the idea aroused a feeling he did not like on his chest.

He wanted to stop when she let out a tiny scream and tears left her beautiful orbs. As if he was shaken violently by reality. As if his mind was no long clouded by lust and he saw what he was doing. He and she, naked, on the sheets of his bed, doing things siblings should never do.

But when he moved way, she held him tight and by kissing him, shifted her hips. Her mouth placed on his ear as she asked him to stay with her. To teach her. And when her husky voice and the meaning of her words hit him, Byakuya knew there was no turning back.

The word of the next days was _denial_. He could not even look at her without feeling guilty. His thirst, however, seemed difficult to control as he feed from whatever he could.

Nevertheless, none of them, animal, men or woman, could sustain him as she could. Could bring him to that state of stupendous bliss when he was with her. Neither had such incredible taste.

There was something about Rukia he could not describe. To be with her was simply _amazing._

Without further comment, she rose up and started walking towards the door.

"I did not give you permission to leave." He said, catching her off guard. She could swear he was not paying attention to her.

Rukia straightened her shoulders, unsure of she should apologize or not. "I already signed the documents." She spoke, not turning to face him.

Yes. That was sufficient reason for him to let her leave.

"You did not read them."

He was right. She had not. She just wanted to leave there so badly she did not bother to read the agreements. The way how his eyes never left hers and how he kept staring at her so intensely was sufficient to make her shiver; to make her want to run as fast as possible.

Eyeing him over her shoulder, Rukia saw his fingers a few millimeters from a red bottom placed on his desk. She widened her eyes a bit. She knew what it meant. Her mother had also one on her desk.

"Huh… I don't need to. I know how much daddy wanted this alliance and even if we disagreed in some aspects, I'd never stay against him in this subject."

Byakuya knew of that she was talking about. Rukia and Natsumi had a very different opinion about the Detention Unit of him and his father. Student of Psychology, Rukia really seemed eager to follow Natsumi steps and work with psychopaths. Which displeased him until no end.

"May I leave now?" She did not wait an answer as she placed both hands on the doorknob.

"No."

"Huh?"

He motioned to the bottom at his side. His finger hovering the bottom. All he had to do was press it down.

"I have to…"

"Nanao said you wanted to talk with me."

"Errr…" Rukia started, unsure. Giving up on the idea of leaving, she turned to face him, a smile plastered on her face. "It's nothing." She added, approaching the glassy wall, this way, she could face anything, but him.

Lowering her head, she stared at her tiptoes a bit and then to the sky, sinking in the beautiful view of the entire city. The buildings all in black, like mere shadows highlighted by some lights. She touched her reliquary and sighed.

"Mom used to say the part she liked the most in this office was this room."

That was not what she truly wanted to say. Nevertheless, she did not know if she could ask about her parents after so many days after the symbolic burial. Somehow, Rukia felt so drained the days after the news came to her; she did know how to react.

Honestly? She could not even remember how had ended the day her brother had returned home. The next days had passed by in a blur. And no matter how hard she tried, she did not miss them as she thought she would. She was sad, of course, but it was if something was… missing. Something was not right with her insides. What exactly she did not know, but something was terribly wrong. The feeling of a strong emptiness was dominating her and worse than it was to know that it was not the first time she felt this way.

If Natsumi was there, she would probably say it was just her mind protecting her; preventing her to feel pain and Rukia would surely agree if she was not forgetting all the other happenings.

Was she such an egoist person that could not even cry over her parent's dead-body? What was happening to her? It was not like if she did not love them. She did, but…

Knowing he was waiting her to continue, she closed her eyes. "Now I can understand why," she added, still holding the reliquary tight.

Byakuya said nothing as he stared at her frame from his chair. That was true. If there was a place Natsumi liked more than the Detention Unit, it was his father office. He had found her there, sleeping in the gray couch, for uncountable times, while Sojun worked until midnight. Sometimes, until breaking dawn.

He joined her, stopping by her side. An arm of distance keeping them apart. He did not speak or stared at her. He just stood still, looking at the sky. Rukia was right. The landscape was amazing. Mainly because he could distinguish several aspects of the night view with his sharp eyes.

Then, he descended his eyes to her hands squeezing the rhodium reliquary. The family heirloom had a shape of a cherry blossom ― the symbol of the Kuchiki Clan ―, mixing two of the most expensive precious metals, rhodium and taffeit. The string and the petals were made of rhodium, while the kernel was encrusted with several purple taffeit pebbles.

"Byakuya nii-sama…" She turned to face him.

"Rukia."

"What happened to them?" She held his gaze intensely. "I know I already asked it and you don't like repeating yourself but…"

Byakuya did not answer, closing his eyes for a brief second. He already knew what she would ask. He could feel it in her voice and the way she took a deep breath to continue speaking.

"You may say I'm lots of things, but I'm not fool. Car crash? Seriously?" She furrowed her brows. "No. Sojun was too careful for that."

Byakuya still wore that emotionless expression of his. And she quickly got the message on his gray orbs _'Do not make questions whose answers you may not want to know.' _But when he spoke up, his tone was more than cold, as if that was a finished subject he did not want, nor would, discuss with her.

"Accidents may happen."

"Accidents may happen. True." She giggled a bit. A very bittersweet low laugh. "But not with him. Never with him."

Byakuya shifted his attention from her back to the sky. She was right. Accidents would never happen with him. Kuchiki Sojun was the most careful man he had known. He would never just loose the control of the wheel. He did not drink; he was averse to any addiction. Nonetheless, that night that was exactly what happened: a car crash. Though it was not what really killed them. In fact, a smiling man interposed between them and the avenue. To not kill him, Sojun dodged away, causing the car to crash against an ancient tree. Needless to say that the car rolled over three times before stopping. Some parts of the car broke, causing an iron bar to pierce his thigh and his head to crash against the window. Bleeding, he fainted. And when he woke up, the hell had taken over the earth.

Turning on his heels, Byakuya returned to his desk. Rukia followed him. She knew what that simply act meant and this time she could not let him finish the subject before speaking up the whole truth.

"Nii-sama…"

"Rukia."

They were about to entangle themselves into another useless argument, when two knocks on the door caused the both of them to clap their mouths shut and only stare at one another silently.

"_Shachō_, permission to enter."

"Permission allowed." He replied.

Rukia knew exactly what he meant with those words and the unspoken ones. She had seen it in his eyes and the way he moved away from her moments ago. _'This discussion is over.'_ And that was his final decision. She knew she would never demote him from his decision.

Sighing defeated, she gave up on the idea of asking him further. It would be of no use. He would answer nothing, like had happened in the symbolic burial, when he dodged away. He was Kuchiki Byakuya after all and he only did what he wanted to. If he did not want to, no one could change his mind.

"I'm sorry for interrupting." Both Kuchiki just nodded. "_Shachō,_ Zaraki-_buchō_ is late and gave no…"

Nanao shifted her gaze from the President to his sister, feeling the heavy atmosphere between them. "Errr… Should I ask him to get here now?"

Before Byakuya could reply, the phone ranged loudly and more than quickly, she picked it up and answered. "Kuchiki Enterprises. Nanao Ise speaking. Good Night."

Rukia intended to leave, but stopped as she thought she heard him saying _'Stay.' _Glancing back at her brother, she noticed his lips were pursed in a tight line. Had he really said something? Or was she just imagining things?

Before she could even realize it, the raven-haired was lingering her gaze on his mouth. Wondering if it would feel soft against hers. If it was so ardent just like in her dreams. Widening her eyes, she averted the attention, focusing on his slate-gray orbs. Rukia felt her throat dry. It was the same intense gaze she had been dreaming of.

"I understand, Sir." Nanao's worried tone caused both of them to break the eye contact and turn their attention to her. The secretary had her mouth opened in a perfect shape of an 'O'_, _her deep blue eyes considerably widened. Byakuya sharpened his hearing and could understand quite well with whom she was talking with. Hirako Shinji, coroner. One of the responsible for the Detention Unit.

"_Someone broke into the Security and killed one of the patients."_

"WHAT?"

"_There's no need to worry, Nanao-san. We have everything under control now."_

Byakuya widened his eyes slightly, an act that passed imperceptible for both women. Quickly, he headed to the exit, making Rukia stare at him with curiosity. The secretary put the call on the speakerphone when he stepped out of the office. "Can you repeat, Hirako-san?"

He did as he was told to. Byakuya remained glued on the floor, even if he had already heard what had happened. _Break into the Security of the Detention Unit. _That was _unpredictable._ Not to mention, nearly impossible. There were the most famous criminals of the entire country; the security of the place was known of one of the best in Japan. Not even in the Fuchū Prison they had such an effective security.

"_However, the man was killed by an unknown girl. She injected something that made him thoroughly dry."_

"Is this an acid?"

"Belladonna." Rukia stated, looking up to meet Byakuya's eyes. He nodded, crossing the doorway. Nanao hanged the phone and ran after them. "Cancel all my meetings for tonight. And call Unohana-sensei and Zaraki Kenpachi."

Rukia stepped forward, about to enter the elevator when Byakuya pressed the button to close the doors. "You will stay here, Rukia."

* * *

"Hey, Kuchiki!"

Byakuya stopped on his way as he heard the loud, annoying voice calling him. He was in the sixth underground floor and had crossed the long corridor that headed to the Detention Unit. Turning on his heels, he saw Unohana, Shinji and Zaraki in the Control Room, speaking in a low tone.

Akon was showing them images of what happened minutes before. The video was passing in a slow speed so they could catch all the details.

"The intruder used Doctor Kuna to enter the Detention Unit. As you can see, the cameras didn't catch them." As Akon typed something on the computer, the image on the screen froze all of sudden. "See? The cameras have a blind spot and it seems the intruder knew about our security quite well." He zoomed the next image until its maximum. They could see Kuna Mashiro placing her finger on the scanner."Since no one broke into the access control, Zaraki-san and his men could not know an outsider was there. He kept her all the way with him until he entered the third area."

"And why did she not tell us what happened immediately?" Shinji asked, causing all of them to stare at him. "Hey, Kuchiki!" He greeted him.

"Well… I don't know why." Akon replied, returning the video to the scene where they passed through the Death Row. "Let me show you what happened when he entered the third area."

The corridor was empty and then, a few seconds after the doors opened to show a petite woman with green hair entering. She was walking as if nothing was happening.

"She's alone all the time. We can't see him with her any time, but now…" He increased the pace a little bit. "We can see his back as he entered the third room. From here on, the cameras were all switched off and just from this point we could know that a stranger had broken into the Detention Unit."

The next scene consisted on Mashiro nodding her head and turning on her heels to leave the corridor. She acted completely normal. There was no overreaction from her part.

"She looks completely fine." Shinji touched his chin pensively.

"The bitch was helping him!"

Byakuya paid them no attention as he eyed the image closely. Of course she was acting as if nothing had happened. She was mesmerized. He could say it by her mechanical attitudes. He did not know Mashiro closely, but from what he had heard of her, she was a very loud woman and would never agree with that without a good fight.

"Replay." Byakuya commanded.

He followed the image closely, not bothering himself to speak to the others in the room. When a pair of brilliant eyes flashed quickly on the screen he spoke up, "Stop."

It was just a matter of split second, but he could catch the face. Brilliant red eyes and a very pale skin, thus brown hair and black clothes. Byakuya was sure he had seen that man somewhere. All in all, he could still see the man. It was not as if he knew the blind spots. He was just fast enough to deceive the cameras.

He turned on his wheels, knowing that wasting more of his time there would be useless. The answer he was looking for was not _'who did that'_ but _'what would someone want there'._

"I want the videos of where Doctor Kuna went during the whole day. Send it to my office."

"Understood, _Sachō_."

"I think your new enterprise should be a cemetery, Kuchiki!" Zaraki said, dragging him out of his thoughts. "People die a lot here!"

"It would not happen if you did your work correctly." Byakuya stopped on the doorway, glancing sideways to him.

"You're saying it's my fault, eh?"

"And who else would it be?" Byakuya said, but gave him no time reply as he left the Control Room and headed to the Access Control Area. He took off his watch and any other metallic objects he could possibly be with, truly annoyed at that stupid rule his stepmother had created. No one could enter the Detention Unit provided with piercing objects or anything that could put the patients in danger.

"Where is the intruder?"

"My room." Shinji followed him. Unohana and Zaraki were three steps behind of the blond man.

"Identity." Byakuya placed his right finger on the fingerprint scanner. A few seconds after, a feminine robotic voice spoke up '_Welcome to the Detention Unit, Kuchiki Byakuya.'_

"We're still looking for it, but we still couldn't find his face, or what we can see of it, in the Police database."

"Cause of death?" He did not wait for Shinji to get closer to continue to ask.

"I think it's a kind of poison." Shinji hurried after him and when Byakuya shot him a cold glance sideways, he shook his hands in a pleading gesture. "I will need some days to fully identify the substance. By the way, it's not like the body is in a good condition to analyze something. Your sister could help us."

"The girl who killed him." Byakuya chose deliberately to ignore Shinji's suggestion as he quickened his pace. No way he would let Rukia get involved on this!

"Ran away. My men are after her." Zaraki was now at his right side. With Shinji at the left one, the three men took the First Corridor, or mostly know as Hellish Row. Unohana was two steps behind them, watching the conversation silently.

"You will do better to catch her."

"What's the problem if Rukia-san helps us?"

"Hirako-san**, **Rukia-san is just a student. We cannot involve a student in this." Unohana spoke for the first time, before the blond doctor could get reprimanded.

"But she's…" Shinji started, but stopped as soon as they reached the Morgue. After bent with his head closer to the eye geometry scanner, the doors swung open to them and the lights switched on automatically. He entered firstly, just to find the chamber empty. The corpse was nowhere in sight. "Good with poisons." He finished his sentence in a low tone.

Byakuya looked at Hirako, but said nothing. However, his cold gaze was sufficient to make him understand his message.

"Wait… you don't think I… The corpse was here!"

"I expect the analysis of it as well as the identity of the murder."

"I'll have her until the end of tonight dead or alive."

"_Shachō?"_ Unohana's calm voice reached his ears. "Can we have a word?" Byakuya nodded. "Could you follow me, _Shachō?_"

* * *

The steely doors swung open when Rukia reached the sixth underground floor.

'_You will stay here, Rukia.' _Byakuya's voice echoed in her mind. The hell she would wait there when someone had broken into the security and killed a patient just because her brother had said so. He could be her brother, but he was not the owner of her life. He knew how good she was with chemical substances. She could be of some help!

She stepped out of the elevator and walked straight to the Detention Unit's entrance. The corridor, lined with a black marble stone, gave the place a dark atmosphere.

No wonder why most of people did not like the Detention Unit and thought bad of the place. It looked like the corridor of death! It would not surprise her if she knew that some patients had been killed without her mother's knowledge.

After passing through the Access Control Area and having placed her finger on the scanner, two doors opened for her. A robotic feminine voice greeted her in the entrance. _"Welcome to the Detention Unit, Kuchiki Rukia."_

The revealed area consisted on a big, clear entrance. The floor was covered by a cold white ceramic. From there, she had three paths to follow. Rukia knew if she took the first one, she would end in the Morgue. After going through Shinji's room and walking a bit more, she could reach her destination: The Chemical Testing Laboratorywhere she could help Hiyosu.

But… this path and the second one, where all the administrative offices laid would take too much of her time. And Rukia could not waste her time chatting around. So, she took the third corridor, mostly known as the Death Row. The path where she would certainly meet the worst patients.

Knowing the right corridor was also the shorter way to get there, Rukia approached her face to the Iris Scanner and after a few seconds the next doors opened for her. There were some guards patrolling the corridors. As she passed by them, Rukia noticed they were gossiping while staring at her. And even though they had noticed she was not a doctor or someone that worked there, they would not stop her, because they knew her identity.

She braced herself as the temperature went colder and colder. When she heard a loud scream, she tilted her head slightly. The Second Area. The place where the patients with a medium degree of psychopathy lived. They could stay together and most of them had barely committed hard crimes. They were classified in the second group psychopathy, until 20 degrees in the scale of 25. Rukia would not step there, instead, she would go straight where the worst patients were.

The more she stepped closer, the more chaotic the place became. Usually they could not speak there and the patients stayed in separated cells, where they could not interact with one another. The glassy walls were impenetrable.

Rukia could still not understand what had happened. How did someone break into the security?

They were chanting, and though she could barely hear them, she knew what they were singing. An old Japanese song they used to sing when they wished someone to be murdered. Rukia felt a shiver running up her spine.

When she reached the last cell she felt someone's breath on her hair. Eyes widened, Rukia glanced sideways to find a blond man staring at her in an unreadable way.

And even without understanding why, Rukia felt an uncontrollable fear overwhelming her when he reached out his hand to grab her neck.

"We're finally alone, Kuchiki Rukia."

* * *

The man raised his head a little as he heard some steps on the rustic floor made of old, large stones. In the darkness of the place he could barely distingue the two forms. But as soon as their faces came to the slightest shaft of light, he could see a tall man wearing a suit and a woman in white lab coat.

Their voices were poorly audible and he was only able to say who were they, or who was her, when she spoke up. Doctor Unohana. The woman who had been visiting his every day lately.

"This is Kurotsuchi Mayuri, one of our patients."

"What are we doing with this prisoner?" Byakuya demanded an explanation, not bothering himself to look at Mayuri, sitting on a concrete bench with his arms and legs tied to iron chains.

"This patient" and he noticed how she emphasized the word through her smile, "is the father of the girl who killed the intruder."

Mayuri rose up his yellowish eyes from the floor and stared at them, finally able to understand why someone was there. They wanted some explanations.

His lips outlined a smirk as he thought it had been a while since someone had come to visit him in that dark, lonely cell.

"Do you know him?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes. Of course he knew this man. Kurotsuchi Mayuri had killed so many people in the last decades in Japan that only a stupid person would not know who he was. Men, women and children. He had no preferences. He just killed them in the most creative possible way. Considered one of the worst psychopaths of the entire country, he took pleasure on seeing the suffering of others.

The man was also a genius. Part of the security and the technology was created by him and he had managed this area for a long, until Sojun became the president. His father would never tarnish his reputation with someone as low as that prisoner, let alone his so honored grandfather, Kuchiki Ginrei. No. Kurotsuchi Mayuri worked for the Detention Unit a long time ago, when he was still unborn and only thanks to his father, they had met in the past.

Byakuya looked at him. He had his back curved due to the weight of the ironworks attached to his hands and legs.

"Kuchiki Byakuya, eh?" He raised his head slightly. His caramel eyes met Byakuya's gray ones. "What brings you here?"

None of them spoke the cliché phrases _'It's been a long since the last time we met.' _Both knew how useless it would be. Nevertheless, Byakuya knew what he meant with his question. _'You changed a lot.' _While him himself, could say: _'You changed nothing, prisoner.'_

"Kuchiki-_shachō, _I think Kurotsuchi Mayuri-san can help us."

"Shachō?" Mayuri shifted his gaze from Byakuya to Unohana. "Have you been promoted?"

Now it would be a good moment to speak those words. Nonetheless, Mayuri kept quiet, analyzing their lack of answer. After a few seconds in silence, he added, his tone a bit low as he was talking to himself, "I see. He died."

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri-san, can you explain what happened?" Unohana asked before Byakuya had a chance to reply. "What was Nemu-san doing here?"

Unohana shifted her attention from Byakuya to Mayuri. The man smirked a bit, showing all his perfect, bright teeth. It was not a mystery. His daughter, Kurotsuchi Nemu was created by him. A kind of robot that no one would ever suspect that was not a human being.

"The security is terrible…" He started, but after a while closed his mouth, a thoughtful expression covering his features.

"It does not answer the question." Byakuya stated in his icy tone after a few moments in silence.

"Well… My daughter comes to see me once a week." When both of them stared at him surprised, he explained, "A man has the right to have his own guilty pleasures." His smirked again. This time a very huge smile highlighted his scary appearance. "What I want to say is your security is ineffective since I became a simply…" He took a moment, giving them time to think of what he had just said to add, his words showing how much he agreed with Byakuya. "Prisoner. I would also say…"

"Explain yourself."

Mayuri looked up. Annoyance all written over his face. It was obvious for all of them there, he did not like being cut off midst of his sentences.

"Have you ever heard about _Countess Dracula – Supernatural Research Institute_?"

* * *

They were leaving the control room when they heard it. It was low, very low and almost imperceptible, but he still could hear the words chanted by the prisoners. Yes, to him, they were prisoners. Different from those stupid doctors, Zaraki Kenpachi had no hope that animals could be ever cured.

He had been working there since his eighteen and he had never seen a single man who left that hell. They came to live there and they died there. There was no turning back. He could say some of them went crazier than when they arrived there.

The chant was just another proof of how much the salvation of those dirty souls was out of question. They only singed those lines when they wanted someone dead. It happened a lot in the past, when they were still held in common cells of iron bars and used to engage themselves into something they called _'Deathclub' ― _a very dangerous game where the chosen ones should fight until the death.

Since that weird prisoner changed security of the entire Hospital and, consequently, of the Detention Unit, they barely chanted. No one had ever escaped from those glassy jails.

"Are you hearing this?" Hirako asked, quickening his pace.

"Yeah."

Zaraki ran as fast as he could to get into the Death Row. If they were chanting, there was one single reason: someone had left the cells. And if that happened, someone would be dead by the end of the day.

The man smiled. He was sure he would get a lot of fun from this.

* * *

As she dodged away, his hand met her wrist. His thumb pressing where her main vein was. Rukia gritted her teeth when a wave of pain washed her skin and quickly twisted his arm and freed herself from his grasp. She stepped backwards holding her wrist. It was burning as if he had flared the place.

Looking up, Rukia analyzed his expression. Different from the other patients, his face was stoic and he did not outline any reaction as he approached again.

Rukia touched her white coat, looking for anything that could help her but found nothing. No penknife. No keys. No piercing objects. Nothing. Since there was a prohibition to carry any dangerous objects, everybody there, even the guards, should be able to submit anyone with the power of their hands.

What she did not understand was how he left the cell. Had someone helped him?

The blond man was close again. Not that it mattered. Rukia was ready to stop him. However, when he closed his hands around her arm, she felt unable to counterattack. Unable to even move. Her body did not obey her commands. The feeling of warmness increased and when she stopped struggling, he twisted her arms behind her back. No matter how she tried, her body did not follow her commands.

When he did it for her, Rukia fell to her knees, her heart beating wildly on chest. Her breath coming out as sobs. He kneeled in front of her, eyeing her in a pitiful way as he spoke up, "I have something to tell you about your brother."

* * *

Both stared at him in disbelief. Everybody knew that Countess Dracula Supernatural Research Institute, or mostly known as Countess Dracula Institute, was just a project of one of the craziest scientists in the city.

"They wanted Kira Izuru. However, the intruder killed the prisoner in the next cell."

"What did they want with this prisoner?"

"There are some men in this place who knows too much about too many things."

"It does not explain how another patient got killed."

"You may know that some of us have special abilities." He spoke to Byakuya, but looked at Unohana. "You can also call it curse."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes at Mayuri, but the man seemed to not care about it. Lowering his head once again, he spoke under his breath, "Kira spoke too much about things that should remain buried. That's why Nemu killed the intruder."

"Could you be more clear, Kurotsuchi-san?" Her tone, this time a little bit firmer, caused both men to avert their attentions to her.

"The substance," Byakuya demanded, finishing the previous topic. He did not want Unohana to know the kind of thing he was talking of.

"Why would I tell you? I would get nothing saying more than I already did."

"I know. It's aconitum."

* * *

Rukia shut her eyes fiercely to send the pain away, but it did not help. Panting, she heard everything he had to say with widened eyes. However, all of sudden and she would dare to say, too soon, his voice stopped on his throat. Looking up, she found a huge man wearing little bells on his black hair, lifting the patient from the floor.

Shinji was kneeled by her side, patting her back slightly. "Are you okay, Rukia-san?"

Rukia gave him no answer, for she was still holding her arm tight, trying to dispel the pain somehow. To keep her eyes open was a difficult task and the drowsiness began to overwhelm her. Her heart was painfully pounding in her chest. Her ears were filled with voices, and her head hurt, as if there were uncountable wild horses in a race. Her eyes, now closed, were filled with scenes she was not able to decipher, but somehow she understood, as if they were memories she only got back now.

"Should I kill him, Kuchiki?" Zaraki asked, his voice bringing her back from her laconic state. She looked up just to find his strong fingers tightening around Kira's throat.

By his face, one could say he was in pain, the man, however, did not outline any reaction, nor complied about his miserable state. He stood still, staring at her in an intense way. There was something on his brown eyes that made her feel pity growing inside her.

"And then, Kuchiki? Can I kill him?"

Deep inside her mind, Rukia knew that was the best, but her heart refused to let it end that way. She did not know if it was because of what she had just heard, or what she had learned with her mother, or even because the pain was sending way any coherent thought.

Rising on her feet, she looked up and shook her head vehemently. However, before she could say something, another wave of pain washed her arm and this time, she fell again to the floor, pursing her lips tight that did not prevent a tiny scream to slither from her mouth.

* * *

Both men stared at her in disbelief, for very different reasons. Unohana smiled a bit more, her tone still sweet as she spoke up once again.

"It's just aconitum, _ne_, Kurotsuchi-san?"

The strange man stared her with barely suppressed anger. How dare she? How did she discover the substance so quickly?

"You freaking bi…"

"Watch your words." Byakuya cut him midst of his sentence and turned to face the doctor. "Unohana-sensei, explain yourself."

"The man was not normal, was he, Kurotsuchi-san?" She asked, but got no reply as he was still staring at her in undisguised irritation. "He was not a human being, was he?"

"Humpft… Continue, doctor." Mayuri teased her. "Tell us how much a psychiatrist can possibly know about poisons and different beings."

"Aconitum is a very strong poison and it can easily kill humans, but not dry their bodies that way."

"Puff… you are smarter than I thought," he said in a mocking tone. "You're right," he conceded. "There is only one creature that can have the body dried after a dose of aconitum…"

Kurotsuchi left his sentence in the air, though neither of them needed more to realize of what kind of creature he was speaking of. For a brief moment, the three of them kept staring at each other in silence, just analyzing features, gestures and stares. When Unohana opened her mouth once again, they heard a tiny scream coming from not so far.

Byakuya pursed his lips into a tight line as he recognized the owner of such voice. Rukia. What was she doing there? Turning on his heels, he was about to leave when Mayuri spoke up, "Oh, it already started."

The president glanced back at him with a questioning spark on his eyes. The prisoner's smirk grew wider as he noticed he had Byakuya's attention, "I hope you know Kira's special ability."

Byakuya's eyes widened the tiniest bit as the meaning of Mayuri's words crashed him abruptly. Without caring about Unohana's opinion, he left the cell as fast as possible. His body was just a mere shadow at their eyes.

Unohana followed him, her steps still moderated as she reached the stairs to get to the sixth underground floor.

"You know, doctor… It's good if he knows he's not the only freaking abomination here."

* * *

"Rukia-san, are you okay?" Shinji reached out his hand to help her to stand upright. Being supported by him, she looked once again at Zaraki who was squeezing Kira a bit more, making his eyes grow unfocused. He did not struggle, did not complain; he just stood still while the rude man kept him from breathing. His face remained froze and emotionless as he was being suffocated.

"Stop!"

"Girl, do you have any idea of what you are asking for?" Zaraki asked and then smiled wider. "I can kill him with two of my fingers."

Rukia shook her head again. Shinji put a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from approaching more, while motioning for Zaraki to stop and do as he was told to.

It was not a necessary request, though. As soon as he noticed Kira would stay unmoving, he tossed him aside. He did not like when the prisoners did not give him a good fight and he knew Kira would just stay that way.

The impact of the fall made his head to crash against the wall and him to faint quickly. Widening her eyes, Rukia ran after him, ready to help him somehow when a firm, cold hand held her wrist.

"What are you doing here, Rukia?"

* * *

**Japanese terms:**

_Shachō_ – President

_Buchō –_ Department chief/head

_Konnichiwa –_ Good afternoon

* * *

**A/N – Hi! I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter. I know it's quite big and full of scenes not entirely related to Byakuya and Rukia. Actually the interaction here is not this big. :(**

**As I mentioned, here you have the explanation to why the Detention Unit is not part of the Onmitsukidō. I thought it would fit better the plot if I put as part of the Karakura University Hospital.**

**I do not understand about Hospitals and Access Control Technologies, so I apologize in advance if you find any mistake about it. However, I did my best to make it understandable. **

**Detention Unit is part of Bleach manga and anime series, but here I just used some of the concepts presented by Kubo, the description about the place and the technologies and some of prisoners and the idea of "prisoner x patient" is mine. I designed a Map to make it clear in my mind, so, if you want, I can share the link with you next chapter.**

**And if this chapter looked a bit crazy and some concepts don't make sense, I'm sorry, but most of the things presented here will be better explained and developed in the upcoming chapters.**

**I think I spoke a lot, now, replying some of your reviews:**

**Vampirelover – **Wow, thank you so much for your compliment! I'm glad you like my vampire story and think it's a good one. Hope you continue to like as the story progresses.

**ReckoningDay –** Hi! Thanks for your review and support! Hope you like this one.

**LizzyByaruk – **Firstly, I'm sorry if it took me so much! And I'm also glad to know you're intrigued by the story and like it.

**Guest – **I'm sorry if it's not fast enough. Anyway, hope you enjoy this one.

**Luisa – **Hi! xD Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you like my story and sorry if I took so much to update.

**Arlingtonsteward – **Hi! Firstly, I was disappointed when I couldn't reply your reviews via PM, because I wanted to thank you so badly, your review came in a day I was really, really, really feeling bad, and it cheered up me mood. So thank you so much. Also for having reviewed both chapters. Ah, I cannot forget the author favorite. It means a lot to me. Really. I'm glad you think it's different, like the male perspective and how I'm working with Byakuya, he's one of the most difficult characters to work with, so it's good to know people think I'm doing it well. Hope you like how the story will be developed and his character as well. I have no words to express how thankful I am. Hope this chapter and the next ones don't disappoint you. Rest assured I'll do my best to make the story at a good pace and it interesting to you all. And I'm sorry if it took me so much to update :)

**Kuchiki Jenny – **Hey, Jenny. Obrigada de novo. Fica meio difícil né, ainda mais porque todo mundo sabe que ele te uma super queda pela Rukia. Espero que goste desse cap também. Beijos

**LuciL06 – **Wow, I was surprised to see you here. Anyway, thank you so much for your support in both of my fanfics and for having reviewed my both chapters. Oh, thank you, I have no words to say how glad I am you liked it and think it's an unusual ByaRuki, I think it's good :3 hahaha If you want him, you have to ask Rukia, as for another vampire well, tell me if you find one, I also want one like this to myself. Thank you for the compliments and I'm so glad because we share the same point of view about the sex thing and you like more than the sex in this story. And well… I'll always keep my pen in motion, but sometimes it will take more time than we all want, so for this I apologize in advance. Thank you again ;)

**I'm working on chapter 3 now. And again it may take from one week to two. So see you soon ^^  
**

**Take care,**

**Velvetsins**


	4. III - Delirium

**Hi, again! Happy Halloween to you all! ****Well… it's still Halloween here in Brazil.**

**Here I am to update chapter 3 of Mesmerized – **_**"Delirium".**_

**Mandy, again thank you so much for always proofread it to me. Your support means a lot. **

**And also thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter **(PAMILA DE CASTRO, Noctis Vee Caelum; Nyanmaru94; Guest, Kuchiki Jenny; LuciL06; ReckoningDay; arlingtonsteward; vicky73) **and those who added this story to the favorites and alert list.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but I own this plot. The cover image is edited by me; the artist is the amazing Punkykoolkat.**

**Warnings: Will contain at times; violence, sexual, drugs and religions references, coarse language and possibly OCCness.**

* * *

**III – DELIRIUM**

* * *

The next thing Kuchiki Rukia saw was herself entering her brother's car; her hand still attached to his.

She gulped when he let go of her and closed the door. A few seconds after, he took the driver's seat and started driving at a high speed. The girl looked at his face, but the nightly shadows made it impossible for her to decipher the expression on his eyes.

Attaching the seat belt to its place, Rukia opened her mouth to say something, but gave up at noticing how concentrated on the street he seemed.

She did not understand his sudden attitude — which she surely considered as an overreaction. Honestly? She was just preventing Zaraki from killing the patient. It was surely what her parents would expect from her, right? Why was him so mad then? Mainly, why did he drag her out of the Detention Unit in such a hurry? What was going on?

Rukia looked down to her wrist. She could still feel the blood running fast through her veins, but the pain was not there anymore. It had faded away as soon as Kira fell to the floor. Now she was just feeling… _warmer_ than normal. She touched the thin marks on her skin again and wondered what had happened to him after fainting.

Somehow, she could not remember what he had told her. Had he really said something? Furrowing her brows, Rukia glanced at the window when it started raining. The droplets wetting and blurring the glass did not prevent her from recognizing the path they were taking. And it was not the one to the Manor.

"Where are we…" She started, turning to face him abruptly.

"Rukia," he cut her off. His eyes still in the street, he demanded, "Explain yourself."

His tone had fallen a few decibels, but inside the silent car, it sounded too loud — not to mention, very dangerous. Rukia glanced back at the street and closed her mouth, not sure of what she could possibly say.

What did he mean by _explain yourself? _She was just in the Detention Unit. Nothing more. He knew she used to spend her afternoons there quite often. As for the patient and their little discussion, she could not blame him. How could she? Anyone living in that place would have done the same thing: use her as a hostage. To escape from what they considered their personal hell, they would do anything.

"I-I…" She kept sliding her finger on the marks. Though it was not aching anymore, the feeling of her heart pounding loudly on her ears and the blood flowing faster and faster was bothersome. Besides, sleepiness began to overwhelm her in a way that was difficult to put two coherent thoughts together. "I thought I could be of some help."

"Did I not tell you to wait in my office?"

Rukia did not reply, sighing a bit. How could she talk to him if he would surely scold her? Holding onto the seat belt, she tried to formulate a response, since she knew he would be even madder if she let him speaking alone.

"You did! But I told you I wanted to help. You know I'm good with poisons."

That was Byakuya's turn to stay quiet. He made another curve peeking at her out of the corner of his eyes. As he caught her looking down again, concern dominated every part of his being, for he knew it would start soon. And the knowledge that all of it was his fault was sufficient to make him curse the heavens and hells inwardly. Moreover: to curse himself infinitely.

He knew she would not wait there. That was Kuchiki Rukia after all and the sister he remembered did not obey him. Was it too difficult to follow his orders at least once? Why did she have to be so curious and so eager to help?

When silence took place between them, Byakuya could hear the symphony of her blood on her veins, flowing faster and faster; feel her little heart pounding on her chest and mostly see the horrible mark Kira had left on her arm. To any other person, it seemed like very simple thin marks, like scratches, but he could detect the black stains growing bigger and bigger beneath her skin, running through her body until its destination: her heart.

The taint was already in the middle of her forearm and kept moving at such slow pace that no human eyes could ever follow. It was like it had life by itself. As the stigma passed through her body, the veins it touched became darker, as darker as if the blood was not showering that part anymore. As if the liquid of life was being drawn away in a very cruel way.

Rukia's life was in terrible danger. He needed to do something to save her.

And that is why Byakuya was driving at such insane speed. Going through the traffic lights; violating the Avenue's maximum velocity. He had to get there as fast as possible. Before 06:00am, he concluded, seeing the hour in the digital display.

"Where are we going?" Rukia asked once again, yawning a bit.

"Unohana-sensei's home," he replied, _'to see her parapsychologist husband, Ukitake_ _Jūshirō', _he felt like adding, but instead asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy," Rukia answered simply, closing her eyes. "Can you turn off the air conditioner? It's so cold here."

Byakuya complied, watching her pressing her lab coat to warm herself up. One hand on the wheel, he managed to take his blazer off and place it over her shoulders. Without even being able to mutter her thanks, Rukia fell asleep, one arm supporting her head. He did not want her to doze off, for he did not trust the reports sufficient enough to know what could possibly happen to her.

Nevertheless, he decided against waking her up, letting her have a moment of peace before the delirium and the pain started all over again. Concentrating himself on the road ahead, he recalled the prisoner's words.

'_I hope you know Kira's special ability.'_

Of course he knew. Kira Izuru was, along with Kurotsuchi Mayuri one of the worst prisoners of the entire Detention Unit, classified in the positions of 25 degrees of psychopathy. But it was for common people and Byakuya was not one. He knew what they were and both were far from common humans. Actually, witches known by the massive use of Black Magic.

It was not a secret for the ones who ruled the Detention Unit ― except for his stepmother, who refused to believe in such craziness. Byakuya used to agree with her until he was turned into a vampire ― and soon he learned that when one wants to live forever, there are a few ways to reach it.

One of them consists on making use of Black Magic. Kira Izuru was there for half-century and had not aged even for a single day. To keep his strength and vitality, he had been killing young women through centuries. His method consisted on applying a spell on them, a kind of black stain, called by Doctor Ukitake '_invisible parasite',_ that would grow in their bodies, draining their blood and spirit of life.

No wonder she was feeling cold, even though her body defenses were fighting to keep her warm. It would be impossible, Byakuya concluded. As long as the blood kept having problems to reach all her frame, Rukia would feel even colder, even weaker and less… _alive._

The best part, however, was reserved for the end: once the invisible parasite reached the victim's heart, it would explode. The person's life would feed the witch, giving him a few more years of life.

Once done, there was no turning back. Until now, no one had ever been saved. But if there was a man who could help him, that man was surely the man who discovered his technique: Ukitake Jūshirō.

Byakuya pressed his foot on the accelerator, gaining more speed. The spring rain outside had stopped a little as he reached the entrance of a big house of old Japanese architecture. Opening the door car he took Rukia in his arms.

Nonetheless, too soon Byakuya found out that the only man who could possibly save her was not at home and given the strong storm from a few moments ago, no one knew when he would come back.

Pressing Rukia's sleeping form against him; Byakuya cursed himself infinitely. He surely would not care if Kira Izuru had cast that demoniac spell on any other women in that place, but that night Kira had chosen to hurt his precious person: Rukia.

From inside of the house, he heard the twelve chimes of the clock. It was midnight.

If Kuchiki Byakuya wanted to save his sister he would better find another way. And fast.

* * *

In the darkness of a small bedroom, a pair of blurry gray eyes stared at a white ceiling with drowsiness and one could say some confusion. After blinking a few times, Inoue sat on the bed. And as she did so, she noticed it was not her own.

It looked completely different from her small, yet cozy bed. The blanket which was covering her body was not hers, but a cold, white one instead. The mattress was not soft, but not stiff either; just plain, common and slightly tilted at an angle that forced her into an uncomfortable sitting position.

'_Where am I?' _The orange-haired girl asked herself while roaming the whole place with her eyes. She already knew she was not in her bedroom ― this room was too big to pertain to her. The surroundings were also white, differently from hers whose wall's color was of an old and peeled salmon which needed to be repainted as soon as possible. It also smelled freshly cleaned with alcohol and something more she could not precise but sniffed like a sterilized liquid product.

And it was dark, so dark; she could not distinguish any furniture. Rubbing her eyes, Inoue expected to see the precincts better, but as soon as the back of her hands met her face, she felt something rough scrapping her cheeks. There were needles attached to her body everywhere.

She did not know what she was doing in a hospital room. Breathing twice, the girl closed her eyes. Alright, the strong headache and the sudden fainting, she recalled. But why was she in the Hospital? Where was Kurosaki-kun?

Turning aside, she looked for her purse and then her mobile phone. As its light switched on, she discovered it was past midnight. Orihime's eyes went wide at noticing she was probably there since 06:00pm.

Quickly, the girl got up and began to remove the needles from her arms and hands. But before she could reach the heart monitor attached to her forefinger, a cold voice went out, "In your place, I would not do that."

Looking up, she found a medium, slim masculine figure with his back turned to her. From what she could distinguish he wore formal clothes and a white jacket ― which made her promptly wonder if he was a doctor. His hair was short, black and looked a bit messed.

She did not know why, but as she kept staring at him, she had completely forgotten what she was doing. Blinking, Inoue shook these thoughts away and resumed removing the devices.

"If you do that, you will attract several doctors here. Very likely, they will sedate you for trying to get away without medical discharge."

And though his words sounded like an advice, he seemed not care about her situation. He said it as if he had to say; as an obligation. Inoue tried to understand if he was being serious or not (since he was back-turned to her, she could not precise very well), but as it sounded as indifference for her, she took it as so.

Once again, before she could even realize it, Inoue had stopped all of sudden and was looking at him with widen eyes. How was he doing that? She was so concentrated on his figure that when he spoke out, his aloof tone startled her a bit, "How are you feeling, woman?"

"Fine, thank you," she replied and fell silent. Sitting down on the bed, she dared to ask, "Who are you?"

He did not reply, staring at the moon through the window. Inoue followed his gaze and tried, "Are you the doctor who took care of me?"

No reply. He remained silent. So, she tried one more time. For a very unknown reason, she felt like talking tothat stranger. Hugging her legs closer to her chest, she spoke in a melancholic tone, "It's a very beautiful night, don't you think?"

"Are you not afraid of me?" His aloof tone caught her off guard. He did not looked scary to her, so why was he asking this question in the first place? Frowning, she shook her head.

"Huh? No. Should I?"

"I'm a stranger on your bedroom," he reasoned.

"If you would do something bad to me, you would have already done it, right? Besides, I know you're a good person."

The man stared at her in surprise through the window. His green eyes widening slightly as he was surely not prepared to such an answer. Was she a fool? Could she not see the kind of creature he was, or was her powers not awakened entirely?

By natural order, their species should be mortal enemies. Furthermore, given the hunting that nearly wiped out all her kind in the past.

Nevertheless, she was not lying. With his sharp vision, he could see the truth on her gray eyes. She did not hate him, and was neither afraid of him. To correct the wrong vision the human girl got of him he felt like saying something, but none of them dared to break the sepulchral silence. Then her mobile rang out, forcing her to avert her attention and answer it quickly.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She said in a happy and girlish tone, causing him to stare at her attentively. "I'm fine now, thank you."

He kept staring at her while hearing her conversation. The boy was one of her classmates, Kurosaki. He spoke a few things concerned to her health-state and asked if she wanted him to pick her up in the hospital next morning. At this very moment, he could see a very slight blush on her cheeks.

He wondered why she was blushing. Was she embarrassed? He could not quite picture the reason behind such reaction.

The boy probably did not notice it, for he asked if she was still in the line.

"Did you understand what happened this afternoon?"

At this moment, he turned around quickly and got her phone, switching it off for her.

"What?" She asked with widen eyes. "Why have you done it?"

And though Inoue had intended to sound angry, she was not. For an unknown reason, she was deeply staring into his eyes of an intense greenish color.

"Hm." That was his only reply.

Inoue looked surprised when he reached out his hand and placed a small cold thing on hers. Looking down, she found what she recognized as a reliquary. A very different one, she thought, as it did not have the usual shape of a heart, but a bat.

"Use it, woman. Never take it off your neck."

"Ah… it's beautiful, but… what is this?"

He did not reply and this time moved to leave the room. Rapidly, the red-haired girl jumped out of the bed to follow him, but the wires connected to her body kept her in place.

"You should not trust outsiders so easily. They can easily kill you."

She was so stunned with his sudden departure and last words that only after a while, she heard herself speaking to the winds.

"Hey… At least… tell me your name."

* * *

There was a great field covered by snow in the early months. It was cold, very cold and the little girl had to brace herself to face the low weather. The winds were strong and she could barely see anything ahead given the snowstorm.

The tip of her nose was red and aching as if the wind had frozen it. Her legs were almost buried into the thick layer of snow, but she did not care.

She had to meet her mother as soon as possible. She had been very sick lately and the girl had to take care of her. Only God could possibly know what she could do alone. Why had she left the house in that weather? Was she crazy? Did she not know she would get even sicker? Was she trying to die?

Those were the questions inside her mind at that moment as she reached the area of the Karasu River. No one was there; the snowstorm forced people to stay at home, protecting themselves from the biting cold. The girl and her mother were probably one of the few people in the streets that afternoon.

A sigh of tiredness left her lips as she finally arrived at her mother's favorite place, where she liked to sit during the spring afternoons and play with the flowers.

She scanned the area, but found nothing. Her mother was nowhere in sight. Blinking, she wondered where she could possibly have gone. Now she had stopped running the weather seemed colder and colder and when the wind died down a bit, she could hear it: the sound of a rotten rope wagging. It was dark, as lugubrious as the brush of thousands bows on the strings of violins in a funeral march.

Looking up, the girl's eyes widened to the size of saucers. There was her worst nightmare turned into reality: her mother's body was swinging from one side to another under the nude ancient tree. Hanged up. Her face was pale and her mouth purplish, indicating she had been there for a quite long time. Not bothering to stifle a scream, she realized it was true, her mother was really dead.

Sweating, Rukia's eyes shot open in agony. Her body was hot and her breath was coming out as sobs. Her heart seemed on the verge to leave her chest, so fast it beat. Pushing the blankets aside, she sat on the mattress and covered her eyes, drying the droplets a muffled cry.

It had been a while since she last cried and even more since she had recalled so vividly the day her birth mother had died. She was eight at that time and no words could describe what she felt at seeing her mother that way. For God's sake! She had committed suicide!

Why was she dreaming of it all of sudden? She had already overcome it a very long ago. There was no reasonable explanation for it to happen.

She straightened on the bed as she heard light steps on the floor. The darkness of the room did not allow her to recognize who was coming closer. Holding her breath, Rukia managed to switch on the night lamp. In this moment, two big hands covered hers.

Glancing up, she met Byakuya's gray orbs focused on her, on her lips precisely. It was a very intense gaze and sent a shiver up her spine. The scenes of them kissing each other, making love to one another flashed back on her mind, causing her eyes to pop open. Rapidly, the raven-haired girl tried to pull her hand from his grasp, but failed miserably as he sat across the bed, one arm resting near her waist. With him leaning over her, Rukia found herself trapped.

A struggled gasp escaped her lips as the tip of his nose touched her fair skin, arousing goose bumps on her entire being. His fingertips slithered down her waist, bringing her body closer to his. Despite the need to shut her eyes and just sink into the sensations he was forcing over her body, Rukia felt unable to look away from his eyes even when he broke apart and put a glass of something dark on the bedside table.

She cast a quick glance at his elegant fingers loosening around the crystal; as if it was the most delicate thing he was holding. Her mind had no time to register what the liquid was. '_Never mind', _an inner voice spokeup, while she prevented herself from breathing when approached more.

This time, as the intensity of his eyes seemed to burn into hers, Rukia found herself lowering her head and her own heart racing when his fingers cupped her chin in a gentle way.

Startled violet locked on fiery gray as Byakuya forced her to stare at him, while making her straddle her legs around his waist.

To not fall, Rukia held onto his shoulders, her mind making a quick note of his opened shirt and of the feeling of his smooth, creamy skin beneath her fingers. Completely entranced by the moment, she did not realize she was sliding her tips on his toned chest, stroking it slowly, touching every single part of him as if to ensure herself it was not a dream.

Byakuya just proved what she wanted to know when he joined their lips in a tender caress. Moving them over hers, he insured her by the neck and slid his tongue across her luscious mouth. Rukia's eyes shut fiercely before his bolder action. Pressing her nails against his shoulders, she sucked in a deep breath.

There was it. The dreams that had been chasing her for a quite long were turned into reality: her brother was kissing her, coaxing her to open her mouth to him and let him have a taste of her and she was simply frozen in place!

His touch felt so soft she wondered if it was just a dream again. Nevertheless, when he pressed their lips together with a little more of passion Rukia gave in. If it was a dream, she would let it be. It felt so real, so vivid, so good, she did not want to wake up anytime soon.

She moved her hands to his neck and tilted his head slightly to slither her tongue inside his mouth and kiss him as deeply as she had been dreaming of all those weeks.

It did not matter his lips were not sweet ― she was not stupid enough to think a kiss should taste sugary, just because the books she had read said so. Moaning, she did not bothered herself to ask why the kiss flavored so steely… almost _bittersweet._

No. She could not waste her time with it. Dreams do not last for an eternity after all.

She was so concentrated on the sensation of the mind-blowing kiss he gave her that she barely noticed his hands were now running her back and that this time there was no fabric covering her skin anymore. Breaking the kiss, Rukia stared into his eyes and let out a tiny moan when his fingertips brushed the side of her breasts slightly.

The girl closed her eyes once again and threw her head backwards when Byakuya's lips left hers and trailed a wet path down her jawline and neck. Pulling his jet black hair, a loud whimper escaped from her mouth as he licked the modest valley between her breasts.

His kisses were languid, sensuous and awakened sensations on her she was not aware of. None of her dreams had prepared her for this; for his hands touching her skin, making it burn; for the feeling of their nude skins so close, let alone for the wonderful sensation that ran over her body, shaking her core when he bit her neck gently and sucked on her pulse point. His sharp fangs scraping her skin only added more fuel to her passion. Then, his lips met hers and Rukia wondered if they were redder than before or if it was just her crazy mind again.

Despite all of this, there was one thing that she was still craving for: the sound of his deep voice on her ears, commanding her, coaxing her into the most pleasurable sensations. Without this, her dream would not be complete.

Soon, there was too much clothing, too much fabric hiding their skins; preventing her from feeling him completely. She wanted to feel more, it was not enough. Reaching out her hands, she started working on his shirt, trying to take it off in a clumsy and inexperienced way. When she finally managed to do it, Byakuya held her both wrists together and kissed her neck with a little bit more of passion, almost fiercely this time.

Rukia tried to free herself, but her efforts as if nothing only caused her to rub her hips against his. His evident arousal just made her feel proud of herself. He groaned on her ear, before sucking on her earlobe in a not very gentle way.

Once he let go of her hands, she resumed stroking his shoulders and back in a slow motion, nailing him fiercely when his mouth closed around her pearl and teased it mercilessly. Subconsciously, she grinned her hips against his, barely registering the bit marks all over her skin, let alone the red liquid staining her body.

One hand on her back and other on her curvaceous hips, Byakuya coordinated her movements, sometimes quickening a bit, others, slowing down in a scandalous sex simulation. His lips still showering one hundred of kisses along her chest.

The girl was so lost in the wonderful sensations he was giving her, she took no heed when a crimson color dominated his eyes, nor in the fiery way he was returning to her neck and sucking her pulsing point carelessly. She was surely not ready when the same sharp fangs were buried without warning on her throat.

Interrupting the passionate friction suddenly, Rukia pushed him aside abruptly, just to find one of the most shocking scenes of her life: Byakuya's lips completely stained with blood. _Her blood._ The crimson, dense liquid that was running down his jawline was also spread over her neck, chest and belly.

Scared, Rukia tried to run away from him, but before she could go anywhere, her back met the mattress and Byakuya's lips her neck. With his hand entangled on her hair, he tilted her head a little, making her face the floor upside down.

"Stop!" she said as loud as possible, punching him hard on the middle of his shoulder-blades, but her only response was a groan coming from deep inside his throat. He caught her wrists with one hand and placed it above her head, pinning her down with his weight.

"St-sto…" Rukia tried again, but her sentence died on her throat as she recognized some corpses stirred on the floor, unmoved. Ichigo, Inoue, Renji, Chojiro, Tatsuki, Sado, the maids and… _Her parents…_ Some of them were without their hearts, some others without their heads, but all of them had been killed in a very creative way.

Her eyelids felt heavy; she was growing tired and tired. It was hard to breathe and even she still thought of stopping him, shouting at him until he recovered his control, it was a very, very distance desire, for he seemed to be sunk on the moment and on his own pleasure to hear her. And as for she, her eyes were already closing without her acknowledgement.

Before the girl even realized it, her eyes had definitely closed and the last memory on the back of her mind was her parents lying on the red carpet and like the dream about her mother, there was nothing she could do, because they were all already dead.

* * *

Byakuya was looking at the horizon when it started. She was lying on his bed when he heard her muttering incomprehensive words. Turning to face her, he watched every single moment of her suffering in silent guilt. It was like if he could feel what she was feeling.

She wore a slight frown that became bigger and bigger as the time went by. Her nails buried into the pillow were her only support as she moved from one side to another.

Rukia was in pain. Only God could possibly know what she was dreaming of. He did not want it to be of her birth mother again. It would be too bad for her.

Left to her own fate, Rukia had learned to survive, to take care of herself in the streets and overcome the extreme poverty she had been into. She had been alone until the day she was sent to an Orphanage where she met Renji.

Six years after, she was entering the Kuchiki Family and consequently his life. It was one of the longest nights of his life when he heard her crying out in her dreams. At first he did nothing but when he dared to enter her room, he noticed what was happening. She was having a nightmare. When he woke her up, she did not told him what happened, not that night, not in the others when he watched her dreaming.

It became a habit to watch his little sister sleeping. Observe her from the shadows, secretly worried about her mental state.

He knew how much fragile she was about that subject and no matter how many times he had awaked her to say everything was okay in the past, he knew she had not overcome what happened to her mother.

Byakuya looked at the modern mobile phone on his hands and dialed Ukitake Jūshirō's number one more time, but no one answered. The call was automatically redirected to the voicemail.

The hour caught his attention. The digital display showed 01:00am. Time was slithering away and he had no clue of how to cure Rukia. He had only five hours to do something, but as incredible as the whole situation was, Ukitake Jūshirō was incommunicable that night.

Casting a quick glance at her, he felt his heart heavy due to her condition. She was panting hard. Sweating. He had something in mind, but he did not know if it would work or not. He had not tried this kind of hypnosis on her or anybody else before.

At noticing her breath softening, he shifted his attention back to the cell phone and typed a number quickly. Unohana was the one who attended.

"How is she, Byakuya-san?"

He did not bother to answer, ordering instead, "Send Kira to the Heaven Room. I want you to take off the cure from him."

* * *

Light steps were heard on the rustic floor, but this time Kurotsuchi Mayuri did not raise his head to face the visitor. He already knew who was there and why.

He was surprised. Astonished even. He knew she would return that night, but he could never predict it would happen so soon.

Looking up, he saw her large, white lab coat swinging in the airflow of the corridor. Before long, her entire features came to the slightest shaft of light. For the first time, she seemed serious and that annoying smile of hers was not there, garnishing her lips.

One could say she looked better this way; her smile was the scariest thing most of them had ever seen. Her secret weapon to force them do whatever she wanted.

Mayuri wondered if the girl had already died. And what was Kuchiki Byakuya's reaction to it. Curiosity began to overwhelm him, but he did not speak, waiting her to voice it out first. But she just stood there, without looking at him, staring at his drawings on the wall.

"Magic Runes," he spoke up, feeling annoyed at her lack of words. He truly wanted to know if Kira had succeeded or not. By what he had heard, the other prisoners chanting again and the exciting conversation between the securities, Kira had triumphed. If being arrested to the Heaven Room was any indication of it… "But also some random drawings about the Moon and the Sun. An antique legend," he completed.

"I know. The lovers who broke apart because of their sons. Have I ever told you my husband is a parapsychologist?"

"What a ridiculous profession to choose," he commented, smirking a bit, but not even his jocular remark, yanked the minimum reaction from her. Rolling his eyes, he asked, "What do you want here, doctor?"

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri-san," she started; her voice low and controlled. "Do you know what time is it right now?"

What a strange question, the prisoner thought, but said nothing. Besides, she had not finished her reasoning. What he could not understand was why she was being so careful, asking random questions instead of getting to the point. They were not acquaintance; he hated her even; but no one could deny how much they knew about one another. Unohana Retsu was not the kind of woman to mince words. If she had something to say, she would do it and without choosing better words.

Anyway, he could not know what time it was, for the room did not allow him to have a clue when it was night or day. By the hour it had happened, Mayuri estimated to have gone by at least three hours.

"It's 2:00 am now." Her voice went out. "This means there are only four hours left."

He looked up abruptly, his sudden movement causing the iron chains tied to his legs and arms to tinkle loudly. The word to describe him at that very moment was _stupefaction. _If he was any other man, he would have gaped, but he was Kurotsuchi Mayuri and being who he was, he just smirked.

"I need your help," Unohana spoke. "If you do, I will free you from this jail and you will be out of here forever." Her tone was firm, serious, showing no doubts on her intention.

Nonetheless, the only reaction she got after speaking up those lines was a loud, long chuckle. He kept this way, laughing, for what seemed infinite minutes.

"Are you crazy, doctor?"

"Do not take me as a fool, Kurotsuchi Mayuri-san," she said, causing him to stop laughing and look at her. "I know quite well what Byakuya-san is as well I know what you and Kira Izuru are."

"Hmmm… Sounds interesting." Mayuri pondered. "Really interesting indeed. But… they would discover it and according to the law…"

"It's something between you and me. Law has nothing to do with it."

"I'm impressed, doctor," he said, but his tone did not show any traces of surprise; his face remained emotionless. He was not even curious. "You're so desperate to save the girl. Why?"

As Unohana did not reply, Mayuri's smile grew wider. He knew she would not speak, and the curiosity on him only increased. Everybody in that Hospital knew about Rukia's adoption ― actually, everybody there knew quite well the stupid silly girl who thought there was salvation to their souls ― and how Doctor Unohana Restu had grew closer to her. But she should not care this much, should she?

"There's nothing your stupid medicine can do."

"And you?"

"Not even me."

They fell silent for a moment. Unohana kept staring at him in an unreadable way.

"I locked Kira in the Heaven Room, but he told us nothing." She confessed, eyeing him in the eyes.

"Predictable, don't you think? Kira is…"

"But I'm sure there is something you can do." She cut him off, making Mayuri roll his eyes.

"Indeed. There is only one way. I'm not sure if even Kira knows about it."

"And that would be…"

"Oh, it's very, very simple and there is only one person who can save her. I can tell you. But I don't know if you are still interested on free me…"

"Speak at once."

* * *

That part of the mansion always gave him goose bumps. And he could say, bravely, he feared almost nothing in his life, but that cold, ancient walls brought a strange feeling to everyone who stepped there.

He was in the third underground floor of Las Noches, called Hueco Mundo, or also Hollow World in his language, crossing corridors and entering different empty rooms to meet _him._

If he could choose, he would rather meet in a bar, or something more… _comfortable._ Not in that cold, unoccupied and scaring part of the mansion.

If he did not know ghosts could not be there, he would really believe the mansion was haunted, mainly after crossing with some intact corpses of vampires in his way. Perfect bodies conserved by magic. Black magic.

He did not know why the man wanted to meet him there. Of course he knew the reason, but could not quite picture the reason behind the chosen place. The man wanted something of him, something only him could do. He would never get his hands dirty when he had a slave to whatever he wanted.

If his life was not at stake he would had surely show that shitty vampire with whom he had gotten himself involved. But at that very moment, he could do nothing, besides keep his mouth shut and curse at his own situation.

Spitting, he crossed the last corridor and reached the room he was being awaited. Suddenly stepping backwards, he shook his head. He had forgotten the corpse crucified in an old wood, his hands placed in a dagger trespassing his heart. Bewitched dagger.

He did not know how the vampire had gotten himself into that shit, but he was not the one who would help him. Entering the place, he saw his host sitting in a big, old chair and facing him in an unreadable way.

"You finally arrived," the man stated in a serious tone.

"Humpft… It's not really easy to get here without getting much attention."

"I suppose you did not take off the daggers from the vampires you found in your way."

"Why would I do that?"

"I see…" He started but closed his mouth and stared at the body glued on the door. "Do you know him?"

He did not reply. What the hell did the vampire wanted? Why was he making all those questions? He was not acting like himself. No mockeries? No smile? No scolds, threatening? Had he gone crazy?

The man took the lack of answer to continue to speak. "He's Barragan Louisenbairn."

"Hm." His tone showed how much he was interested on listening old stories.

"They are alive. All of them. It's good to know you did nothing to help them or else you would be in the same state as them."

"What do you want?"

"Kira cast a spell on Kuchiki Rukia."

"Hm… I heard so." He arched his brows. "And what?"

"The girl will die and no one here wants her to die."

"Really? Because I give a shit about it."

"You shouldn't," the man said, rising from the chair. He passed his fingers though the lighten candles, eyeing the flickering orange light for a brief moment. "I could do this task by myself, but I will be busy teaching Kira to not get into my business."

"Sounds like someone is going to die."

"I locked Kira in that jail to keep him away from my business. Now the girl will die and there's nothing we all can do to save her."

"You're speaking nonsense."

"Do you think so? Have you ever heard about balance both sides of the scale?"

"I never understood it quite well. Math was my weakness when I was a human."

"Because that's what you're going to do this night…

_…I want you… to kill Kuchiki Byakuya."_

* * *

**A/N – Well… I don't feel like speaking so much today.**

**So, I apologize for the lack of update. I really tried to update and I indeed had a big part of this chapter written when I updated chapter 2, but it got big, so big, so big that I had to divide it. **

**The next update will come in the next 15 days. This time I think I'll be able to update in time. It could be next week, but I'll update my other story since I last updated DCYH a month and some days ago. **

**And from now on I'll only reply the reviews I can via PM. I'm sorry, but my A/Ns are getting to big and I don't know if you really care about it, or read it. If you feel like my reply is necessary to you, let me know in the review :) **

**So to the guests and the ones I can't reply via PM **(Guest; LuciL06; ReckoningDay and arlingtonsteward)** thank you so much for your reviews. Your opinion means a lot to me. It really does.**

**And do you mind to review it for me? Any criticism, ideas, suggestions, corrections, anything that can help me to improve my writing skills are welcomed. **

**Take Care,**

**Velvetsins**


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